Right now, we're looking at solar panels as the disposable, cheap pieces of contaminated glass and polyurethane foam that they are: nearly impossible to recycle (I've got a stack of them in a shed to experiment with). We need an Amish approach that builds solar panels with local materials and metals, but less conversion efficiency. Eventually, perovskite or other crystals might solve this problem, but this is where the tree analogy comes in: you can grow a tree anywhere with basic resources. The photoelectric effect works on most metals to some degree. Silicon cells are a high level solution based on lots of shaky infrastructure.
Thanks for the story BTW. You just reminded me where I have a bunch of aluminum I can use for something else. I'll just have to get rid of the glass.