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ElSapo
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The biggest problems with solar and wind farms are economics,
intermittent power, and the fact that no one wants them.
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I've been thinking about this a bit and thought that pumping water and then generating hydro power would be a good way to store energy when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing. This process can be up to 85% efficient currently and I just discovered that here in Southern California there is a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant.
They pump water from one lake (Castaic) into a higher lake (Pyramid) at night and then generate power during the day when demand is higher.
Solar power could be added to the grid until it shaves off the peak demand and after that it could generate more power and as long as some was used to pump water into such a system it wouldn't cause the problem of too much power sometimes and not enough other times.
Castaic Dam wiki
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We're getting over my head here. I deal mostly with natural gas infrastructure and long-term forecasts, so while the specifics of renewable energy definitely play a part there I don't see it on an individual project basis.
Generally, most people don't consider hydro to be "renewable energy" because of the tremendous environmental impacts. But the pumped project you mention sounds different.
I don't mean to sound overly skeptical of renewable energy - without a doubt, it will play an increasing role in meeting the U.S. energy demands (and demands globally). It's just that debates that center on largely general ideas of "if we had X amount of X renewable resource, we wouldn't need Y amount of Z fossil fuel" are way too vauge.
The energy industry and markets are really, really complicated in my opinion - from fuel specifications to pipeline interconnects to regional power authorities, real shifts towards renewable power will be gradual and will require new policies, regulations and markets.
Ultimately, for large scale, wind is the most economic right now. Solar seems to function well for on-site generation, and net meering done at some places actually has customers -generating excess- power rather than being a net user, at least at certain times of day and year. Geothermal has been talked about, but right now is absurdly expensive. Clean(er) coal may well be the solution for the next several decades. Natural gas and oil and not going anywhere, no time soon and quite possibly ever.
But despite the huge roadblocks, innovation does continue. Small solar projects do make a difference, and eventually large projects do get permitted (though it takes an eternity). We're not going to "run out" of energy, that won't ever happen. But there will always be a need for new sources, conservation and concern.
At one point, nuclear power was supposed to make electricity "too cheap to meter." Most conventional wisdom will turn out to be wrong. Probably most of what I just typed will be wrong.