I'm going to disagree with you here, at least for the immediate aftermath. Or maybe not disagree but say the reality is much more nuanced, and share a little of

I'm going to disagree with you here, at least for the immediate aftermath. Or maybe not disagree but say the reality is much more nuanced, and share a little of my own experience. I volunteer for a disaster relief organisation and have a background in logistics - I went to the Caribbean in response to Irma. I was on Antigua when Maria came through having just sent a shipment of aid forward to BVI. I met the Dominican President the day after and had a team on the island within 14 hours (via sail boat believe it or not). Then I moved on to BVI a week or so later. I saw first had what occurred in the direct aftermath of the disaster and I can say with confidence that shipping in and distributing replacement solid state (and reasonably lightweight) solar cells by air is immensely more simple and can be done much more quickly than getting fuel or oils in by sea. Palletised air freight is almost perfect for bringing in reasonably dense but reasonably lightweight panels like solar cells. And onward movement by underslung load on helicopter/chinnock or carried by aircraft like the C130/A400M with ability to land/take off on unprepared runways can carry in these loads easily. Further movement by hand is also relatively simple. All those things happened/aircraft were used (and many many more smaller ones) in the Caribbean response that I participated in. We actually had the problem that too much materiel was coming in by air (particularly building supplies and plywood panelling) and had difficulty getting it stored and processed. Meanwhile sea shipping was in a poor state. Getting anything in by ship is chaos in the aftermath of hurricanes as ships and cargo are out of position all over the place as they avoid the storm. Ports are also often damaged as waves, storm surges and steep terrain can cause huge flash flooding and remove vast swaths of forest/buildings along the coast that floats out onto the sea and causes hazards to shipping, having trashed the port on its way through. This was particularly problematic in Dominica. There can also be large lead times in getting bulk loads bought and shipped in which further complicates the disaster response. Not only that, distribution of fuels in location is most often centralised through fuel stations, so damage to fuelling stations and pipe infrastructure meant that when fuel did arrive it was very difficult to get hold of and time consuming to obtain when it did arrive. Meanwhile, we struggled through immense heat and bright sun 12 hours or so a day, perfect for solar power. On a small scale, people actually did use solar power to charge small electronics like phones and tablets. Phones, incidentally, which connected to cell towers often powered by diesel generators that struggled for fuel and could have benefited from augmented supply from PV. And lets not forget, we don't necessarily need to set up multi kW PV systems in all homes, or large scale power plant scale solar farms. We need emergency distributed power generation, shelter and clean water. Next comes food and medicines. What you can get in quickly and is effective in the first 21 days is vital, and power and water often go hand in hand as we need power to run the purification pumps. I look forward to a time where shipping in solar panels are as cheap as shipping in plywood for temporary roof/building repair. But all the above is not to say PV are the best or only solution. A mix of power generation is best and in any case the effectiveness of one or other method would depend on the disaster, geography and scale or response needed. But, it's important to think creatively and be open minded about technical solutions that are 'good enough' to preserve life and fill the gap between disaster and recovery. Cheap PV certainly has a place in that tool kit.