You seem to be changing your argument there. It absolutely does matter. If one is cycling the storage system annually, $3/kg for hydrogen becomes a minor part

You seem to be changing your argument there. It absolutely does matter. If one is cycling the storage system annually, $3/kg for hydrogen becomes a minor part of the cost. The cost of this input is proportional to the number of charge/discharge cycles over the timescale indicated by the discount rate, and for annual storage that's not very many. It's a common mistake to think that the importance of round trip efficiency for diurnal storage carries over to annual storage.