Dump excess wind-originated electricity into organic-solution redox flow batteries (because we don't care how big and heavy utility-grade storage is), and we're easily looking at 50-year lifecycles before the batteries need major maintenance, which currently consists of electrical controls, pump and container integrity. I don't know the lifecycle of the organic chemistry yet, as its discovery was only published this year so they haven't had time to perform accelerated aging tests upon it, so maybe the solution might have to be replaced sooner than 50 years, but based upon what I saw in the paper I suspect not. With appropriate civil engineering (pozzolanic concrete, basalt rebar), the containers can be built to last 5+ centuries.
Build enough of these redox flow plants on the grid, pour in enough excess from all kinds of renewables, and hopefully in 3-7 generations our children won't worry about coal-originated mercury poisoning from eating "too much seafood".
Build enough of these redox flow plants on the grid, pour in enough excess from all kinds of renewables, and hopefully in 3-7 generations our children won't worry about coal-originated mercury poisoning from eating "too much seafood".