An "obvious" improvement is to push blocks up, and insert new blocks below (yes, u need gearing, and maybe lean them on a slope). But you get quadratic energy per tonne.
Its amazing how much energy a 250W panel outputs. Imagine storing energy from a 1MW wind mill (free pole? ;).
It’s the same total energy per bock. Their design starts out with 2 rings of stone. To simplify assume both piles are equivalent. The first layer of stones is raised by the width of a single stone. The next layer is raised twice the height of a single stone. The n+1 set is raised 2n+1 layers.
Starting with more piles means a lower initial height. But, the only things that matters when stacking is initial and final heights, and transmission losses.
Demand supply matching, reducing solar curtailment by innovative use cases will lead to thousands of business ideas. Although most still make sense at large scale and difficult to bypass the grid or apply anything in terms of storage at small scale like an individual house.
Assuming an average of 6 hours of sunlight, a 250 W solar panel can collect about 1.2 kWh of energy, or about 5 x 10^6 Joules.
In terms of potential energy that is
5000 kg x 9.8 x 100 meters.
Pretty huge for one solar panel.
I have been thinking about storing energy in underground storage tanks, with compressed air, but roundtrip efficiency does not work out.
Alternative method is to heat any material and use that heat later. Like, molten salt. But these systems are not suitable for domestic use.
Now I am exploring chemical methods to convert carbon to fuels using solar panels.