system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Askscience: What is it going to take to capture the energy in a lightning strike?

We can target with reasonable accuracy where the lightning will hit, on an average.

What sort of storage techniques are at our disposal that could contain the energy in the strike. Giant capacitor? Fast charging batteries (I don't think our technology is up to it)? Could we directly convert to heat and vaporize water for pressure storage?

How about setting up multiple stations in close proximity to dissipate charge?

It seems to me we're really missing out on a lot of potential here.
gpt
Big problem:  the lightning channel wastes all the energy!  It's like a big fluorescent bulb.  Don't forget, the electrical energy is moving inwards into the lightning channel.  Energy doesn't race along the channel.   Same with hot wires in an electric heater: the energy starts out in the surrounding e-field, then dives inward into the wire.

So if lightning struck a 10ft tower, you could only intercept 10ft worth of the energy in the miles-long lightning bolt.

To gather much lightning energy, we'd really need a 10KM tower that sticks up into the thunderstorm.