the only free and easy work environment is that u being the boss on ur own.
work place is always toxic, it depends on how much u can tolerate it. politicians, backstabbers and loyar buruks are everywhere in every organization.
u wont know ur bosses until u work with them and u will only how genuine ur boss is until a crisis happen in that organization.

up front everyone will try to put a genuine intention in front of everyone but that doesnt mean that they are really genuine.

then again, u cannot control what other choose to be, more important what would u like? a boot licker?, a politician? a person on the fence?

u gotta to ask urself, bro

at ur age (27), solar industries or not, it doesnt really matter. go out gain ur working experience that unis do not teach u.

well, like i said earlier...
at ur age, both fields are good to gain experience. as long as ur comfortable with it and u feel good about it. hell, ya... go on with it.

3 yrs down the road and u turn 30 backed with good solid experiences and credentials and if u decide to move to projects, i think many hiring manager will definitely shortlist u.

i have seen some people around ur age that started in the manufacturing and eventually move to project development / management too. u gotta be tactful and think logical in whichever field that ur in.

being tactful and logical helps me (a lot, really a lot) in my career path. thats my 2 cents for u, bro.