The first uses of solar power date back to ancient times. Sets of mirrors were used to harness the sun’s power to set fire to or melt things.
The photovoltaic effect was discovered in the mid-19th century but it was not put to use until 1916 when the first photovoltaic cell was created. Even then, the low yields observed made industrialisation unfeasible.
In fact, it was the conquest of space around the 1950s that enabled the development of this technology in order to make the shuttles launched into space independent. In 1958, the first satellite with a photovoltaic panel was sent into space.