Isn't it weird that we'll never (ever?) talk about lightnings as a potential renewable energy source ?
Seems to my ignorant eyes that we could always somehow split the power received into more manageable units, even if it has to be splitted a million times, 🤷♂️.
There's a retired astronaut whose entire post-NASA career has been devoted to developing a plasma propulsion engine. Which is kind of (though not exactly) what you're thinking of.