Laura, cool article, good to see you are interested, but it is a misconception propagated I believe by the pro-capital fossil fuels and nuclear lobbies, that solar power only supplies power when the sun shines.
We have now commercially available reversible fuel cell technology which enables generation of clean hydrogen fuel which functionally replaces fossil fuels with none of the pollution in either its production or consumption, so with sufficient solar infrastructure to produce than in addition to meeting peak demands, there is no interruption to the net power output of all combined.
A more controversial aspect also ignored by the holders of capital, due to solar energy being the only source donated from off-planet, is that significant usage of solar requires that we must issue funds on it, per the ideals of Austrian Economics, to reflect reception of that physical product, which is additive to the existing capital resources on Earth, therefore dilutes the value of all existing capital holdings, relative to the whole.
To most folk the effect on the way we handle money can be explained most simply, as why bother saving, if we are assured we will receive infinitely more?
We actually had a glimpse of this in recent history, when $4Tn stimulus was issued in US, equivalent to around 10K per head in US at the beginning of pandemic, oil prices went negative, shares in still loved bankrupt companies soared (Rescuing the companies, including Hertz), and the dollar value itself went up, contrary to standard large investor warnings.
I've written quite a lot on this subject, more than 200 stories to date, I call the emerging field "Kardashev Engineering", and money generated from Kardashev "Money-fuel Trees" is "Kardashev Money".
We are at a point in history now where it looks likely we might see it as something unavoidable, to remove our dependence on other countries for energy resources, over which we are already at war, really, so it is a defence move, to invest in this technology, therefore we should redirect some defence funding towards this goal to protect our national security, in all countries.
Btw I notice your background is in nuclear... I argue the days when we might have seen nuclear as something useful are gone, it is easy to show there is no real net gain of energy from nuclear. By continuing to use it, we are only postponing the inevitable, we have to plug our human economy into the energy of the sun, in order to work positively with nature.
My background is in defence systems Engineering, starting out as a hardware Engineer a long time ago in the commercial electrical power utilities business (Industrial Electrical Power Meters), but I've seen how to refocus all of my skills gathered over the years on solar power infrastructure. It isn't easy, requires a completely different mindset, but very rewarding when we put our minds to it.
