Solar is one type of renewable. The Nordics have done all right

https://www.nordicstatistics.org/news/the-5-large-nordic-cou...

They have small populations and so many places to install dams they have their own words for it.

Nobody else can do that.

Yet their neighbor Denmark has similar penetration of renewables.

So what's the final destination of these goalposts then so we can just skip to the end?

Interestingly you don't want to be near the equator for the best solar resource, due to something called the "Intertropical Convergence Zone". This creates persistent storms and cloudiness in a band that waves up and down across the equator.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertropical_Convergence_Zone

Peak efficiency is seasonal. Much of North America is perfectly suited for solar year round, at reduced efficiency.