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Is there any reason solar installation could not be vertical like a tree with branches and leaves? Is there no angle / arrangement at which efficiency is all the same as a flat set up? Or is it just more expensive to build out that type of infrastructure?

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Trees only do what they do because they're in competition with other trees. Unless someone starts putting solar panels on poles above the farm, it doesn't really make sense to kick that kind of competition off. There is, after all, a fixed amount of surface area to expose to direct sunlight.

More expensive. Do a google image search for "solar trees" and there are plenty of them where space is constrained and aesthetics are a factor.

I’ve seen those, they are interesting but not exactly what I had in mind in terms of form. I envision some sort of square set up at 45 degrees angles for each panel, aimed inward like a funnel, but now I’m thinking it’ll probably destroy itself with all that heat generated?

Are you thinking about molten sodium power plants that use mirrors?

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