Jokes aside, at least one interesting workaround for solar power NOT shining 24/7 was invented baaaack in 1968!

For a person with a technical education, it is logical to assume, given a new concept, that “If | haven't heard of it before, it must be as far off as the 21st Century.’ Usually that attitude is justified. Space colonization, though, is a curious exception. It is a technical concept realizable with-out any new breakthroughs in materials technology or technical understanding. We are unfamiliar with it only because, until the Apollo samples were returned, no one could have put together all the necessary components of a space-colony program in the form of a complete system with defensible numbers.

In contrast to that situation, we have examples of development programs which do require breakthroughs in the understanding of new physical phenomena, but which have become accepted parts of our research effort simply because we have been hearing about them for a long time. One classic example is hydrogen fusion power. It has been discussed in public for thirty years, and has been worked on in research for more than twenty years. In effect, it has become institutionalized. Although no responsible advocate of fusion power will commit himself as to when fusion power will become economically competitive, the idea has been around for so long that its eventual success is accepted as inevitable by most people. (My own view is that fusion power research should continue to be supported, on what | would regard as the off-chance that it might someday be competitive with L5-built satellite power stations.)

From The man himself ("Space Colonization and Energy Supply to the Earth
TESTIMONY OF DR. GERARD K. O'NEILL BEFORE THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON SPACE SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 23, 1975")

ik I post it everywhere. But this is SO BIG ....completely hidden third way to deal with energy shortages. Yes, costly, but energy for 100-300-1000 *millions* of people will COST anyway. And it was designed to deal with whole SET of problems set forward by "Limits to growth!". yes, people point at capitalistic undertones of such expansion. But as real capitalism showed it has no desire to wait decades, it wants its power NOW, with fast-growing consequences .... So reclaim the idea! At least it will be interesting history lesson to pass down.