The International Energy Agency consistently underestimates wind and solar power

A much more simpler explanation is - china.

Most of us were arguing about trying to use technical solutions in renewable - not realizing how badly the game is rigged against solar - especially in western countries.

China just took a very conventional solar panel design - not even the cutting edge ones - and just amped up production.

This destroyed the market that exits for actually better designs for solar in germany and the US.

Its a lot like the same problem with oil - yes oils are the foundation of modern agriculture ( fertilizers ), transportation and manufacturing ( plastics ) - and its laughable if we could find some immediate replacement - but I do not recall the wright brothers just saying meh since we had ships to transport people across the Atlantic.