Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious about where you read this. I see this idea that pumped storage geography is rare pop up a lot on Hacker News but I don't know where it's coming from and it rarely seems to come with citations. If you look at this map, you'll see that unlike, say, dam-appropriate geography, it's actually extremely common: https://www.energytransitionpartnership.org/uploads/2023/05/...
The problem is, the potential for buildouts of pumped hydro isn't that large any more. In Europe, most usable areas have been built out, and new projects are likely to be denied because anything involving creating dams or bodies of water with rapid differences in water level is incredibly devastating on nature and wildlife.
More or less devastating than extracting heavy metals and setting up a battery farm?