The thing is, I don't really feel like the main issue holding back solar power production is a lack of physical space where we can put the panels.

Look at Nevada. We could probably cover 75% of the land area of the state in solar panels before having to put a single panel within sight of anyone's house! We've got absolute fucktons of basically unused space right here on land, which is going to be way cheaper to build on and way easier to maintain.