Not to defend the horrifying Spanish Empire, but it didn’t contain genocide of natives as a tenet. It enslaved people, spread diseases and wars, and murdered millions upon millions, but go to Peru and you’ll see that at least it didn’t reach the goal of extermination to the degree that happened in North America.

I remember hearing this about solar power ten years ago

Ten years ago Swanson’s law for solar photovoltaics was well established, not comparable.