In the Rationale for Experiment we used extrapolations of annual solar PV and average GSHP load to support the claim that 2GW of solar PV in Ontario should be sufficient to heat 330000 Southern Ontario homes.
The results of this experiment show that we would need 4MWh of seasonal storage per home to make this a reality. That is 1.3TWh of storage just to provide seasonal storage for those 330000 homes GSHPs. A Tesla Powerwall retails at ~$1000/kWh. If this was the storage solution, Ontario would need to spend $1.3T on battery seasonal storage; clearly not feasible.
Furthermore the IEA states that globally there is 8.5TWh of pumped storage. This would only service 70% of the single family homes in Ontario. Clearly there is a large chasm between the prevailing renewable narrative that all we need is more storage and reality.
A clue to a possible solution lies in the passive solar winter heating observed in the GSHP dataset. GSHP’s require heat. Converting solar energy into electricity, storing it and using a GSHP to remake heat is looking at the problem with the wrong lens. What we need is seasonal solar heat storage not solar electricity storage.