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Ecological considerations aside, seawater would need to be pumped pretty high, at least a thousand feet, and quite a distance to reach Baker, the south and highest end of the valley, almost as far as Las Vegas is from the Gulf of California.
Salt buildup on the lake bottom would be a significant problem, and fairly soon.
I don't know as such a setup could be utilized effectively for energy storage. Any reservoir feeding into Death Valley would lose water at such a high rate that it would be terribly inefficient. Sounds like the perfect California project. Get Elon Musk involved. That's the ticket.
Now, of you could build two covered reservoirs or gigantic cisterns with enough elevation difference to be viable, then you could have a closed system with no (or far less) water loss.
Took too long to compose this response. In reference to freebeard, I could accept the proposal of covering Lake Mead and the Lower Colorado reservoirs with photovoltaics. It makes better sense than paving the desert with them. Even leaving enough open surface area for recreation would significantly reduce evaporation. It could even improve the fishery. The technology exists for the floating islands. Of course, transferring the electricity to shore might pose a safety risk to swimmers, water skiers and fish, if there is a short.
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