A distributed generation grid with storage will have multiple nodes at different levels.  Batteries will be part of that storage but hydrogen along with other technologies will be a large part of the system.  Catalysts and electrodes are improving in durability while significantly decreasing in expense by not needing things like precious metals. 
http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2015/ee/c4ee04041d
PV materials are a long way from the solid silicon cells that did require a lot of energy and expensive materials so their EROI is much better than in the report.
http://rameznaam.com/2015/06/04/whats-the-eroi-of-solar/
Bottom line is batteries alone are not the solution but new grid technologies are possible and coming.