Energy is a grid. As long as you have wind and FV, hydro is accumulating water for less windy/sunny moments. We tend to look at batteries as something that has

Energy is a grid. As long as you have wind and FV, hydro is accumulating water for less windy/sunny moments. We tend to look at batteries as something that has to be physically linked (the wind mill must reverse a hydro or must store in a lithium battery), but it can be though as avoiding to release the water in the first place. Viewing the different technologies on the grid as isolated competitors in which one must "win" over the others as if they were Walmart vs Costco is a mistake. E.g. nuclear providing 20-30% of the load is a must, but providing more than 60% is a drag. The trick is to get, slowly evolving, a good mix in the grid that is reasonably cheap and green (wind and solar) and reasonably stable (nuclear, hydro and gas). Too cheap and you get blackouts. Too stable and you get high prices and CO2.