Ool wrote:
snip
I've read a few chapters from the Lunar Base Handbook, and one project
estimate is that the solar panels needed for supplying an initial base
would weigh only a ridiculous 1t while the equipment needed to *store*
enough power for surviving the Lunar night would weigh about 45t.

Solar panels are running at approaching 200W/Kg for the cutting-edge
designs (zero G)

100Kw (average) isn't a very huge amount of power.
For example, if you were wanting to run a greenhouse on it, it's enough
to light a room 10 meters square or so at a bit less than sunlight.

Heating and air conditioning can easily use this sort of power, not
to mention energy intensive stuff like trying to process crust.

The night is about a megasecond, so you'd need 100GJ of storage.
This is some 130t using lithium-ion cells. (good for over a decade)

So finding a spot that's perpetually in sunlight isn't such a bad
idea, be it a mountain on the south pole or L1...