No, not massive hydro projects, but simply "small" heavy weights. Hoist them up. Store potential energy, convert to kinetic energy, convert to electricity.

Does not require special geography, rare metals. Can be repaired. Have expected lifetimes of 50 years or more.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220511-can-gravity-batteries-solve-our-energy-storage-problems

2005: Gravity Generator of Electricity or How to Use Gravity to Generate Electricity by Means of Pendulums
https://www.mysciencework.com/patent/show/gravity-generator-electricity-how-use-gravity-generate-electricity-means-pendulums-US20070012518A1

The cuckoo clock, reborn.

Very, very big cuckoo clock