I'm not dead against batteries, we've got an off grid cabin that runs on 4 6v Trojan lead acid batteries and they are great. However there's something about li

I'm not dead against batteries, we've got an off grid cabin that runs on 4 6v Trojan lead acid batteries and they are great. However there's something about living off grid that makes one want to simplify, and batteries are one of the big, expensive, and limited life time components of a solar system. If you can reduce the load on, and the required capacity of your battery bank, then you have improved reliability significantly. As you say, pumped hydro is certainly a great storage system if the situation permits. It just takes a very large storage system to store as much as batteries. If you have a pond or lake and an easy supply of water it would certainly be my choice.