[central_va]

After decades of cogitation on the subject, the only way I can see to get off of the grid is to burn alcohol that you produced yourself in a regular internal combustion engine powered generator. You would need a large distillery that produced 100 gallons a day(that’s a lot of alchohol) and it would not be a small operation but it would be doable. You could sell electricity to your neighbors to offset costs. Drinking the fuel is not advised.

[driftdiver]

I’d agree if you want to power a modern home, or anything close to it. Still there are sources of generating small amounts of electricity. Certainly not a replacement for the coal plant.

[__rvx86]

Oil-bearing plants work equally well, in a Diesel-cycle generator.

I assume the people inclined to undertake this type of project would be mechanically inclined enough to modify the engine to accept such a fuel. (Replacing kerosene with plant oils poses its own challenges, re: biodiesel.)

[Farmer Dean]

Check out wood gasifiers.The gas can power a generator.

[PieterCasparzen]

After decades of cogitation on the subject, the only way I can see to get off of the grid is to burn alcohol that you produced yourself in a regular internal combustion engine powered generator. You would need a large distillery that produced 100 gallons a day(that’s a lot of alchohol) and it would not be a small operation but it would be doable. You could sell electricity to your neighbors to offset costs. Drinking the fuel is not advised.

I built a solar-powered still when I was a kid.