Nuclear power appears to be a powerful way to make steam that spins a turbine. Same with geothermal, wind, & hydro. Maybe not solar? Isn’t energy lost in the multiple energy conversions (heat, water state, kinetic)? Is it theoretically possible to have a power source that more directly moves electrons through a circuit? If solar is the only one that can, it’s limited in efficiency and where it can be used. What about power generation undersea or on Ganymede or something?
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The shortest answer is that we have spent a LOT more time working with steam than anything else
We started with steam power engines a long time ago (1700s is when it really took off) and over time we got really, REALLY ridiculously good at making steam spin turbines at both small and large scale.
Then when electricity comes around we learned that AC current can very easily be generated from any constant motion, just get a magnet and a conductor and boom, you have current. So we could take a century of progress with steam engines and advance these concepts to make things like the hoover dam. A happy coincidence.
There are other methods being developed but they are still less efficient, for a variety of reasons. For example Solar Power has a maximum theoretical efficiency near %70 for realistic use cases but the best we have developed so far is around %45 efficiency while industrial power generation from steam turbines is between %65-%90
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