It works super-great, collected in the tropics and shipped in chemical form. Before you object to depending on imported liquid fuel, consider that most of the world does already.
The main difference is that literally anybody can make it, not just "oil exporting countries" and "fuel refiners". And, will. And export excess production when local tankage is full.
I guess you're right that solar is useful for 99% of spacecraft -- in that they use it currently. Not a very useful observation
"and many other applications"
Power in polar regions. How well does Solar work in Antarctica? Or Alaska for that matter?