Kind of misleading to make a blanket statement like that since it obviously depends on what you are comparing. Consumer rooftop solar was, is, and will likely continue to be much more expensive than hydrocarbon. Solar at noon in Arizona in July is cheaper. Solar at 3:00 AM in Arizona in July doesn't exist. Solar + storage is right now pretty comparable to hydrocarbon prices.

>We don't have storage because we have not needed storage.

With daily and seasonable variations in demand and the need to shut down plants for maintenance, storage would always have been preferred to having to generally over build and running peaker plants, etc. So if it was cheap or easy, we would have built a lot more of it already. Though grid storage is absolutely needed to scale up intermittent sources.

>...It will take time to build out, but the scale will be astonishing because the demand for it is very predictable and stable.

Hope so.

>...Gates is investing in nukes because it can be very profitable to make them.

That is an uncharitable interpretation.