[apedley]

I agree. From my limited knowledge of power sources, I understand that fusion and zero point energy would provide more easily accessible and vaster amounts of energy than one could build with a huge solar collector. Solar can only go to the maximum that the sun outputs in that direction. I would speculate that alien civilizations have found far more efficient means of power than a solar array.

[gibybo]

It wouldn't just be one direction, it would be a sphere around the whole star. Stars are essentially just large fusion reactors, so it would take one the size of the star to compete with it (within an order of magnitude or so).