My case, I am thinking of doing the same thing, but so far if I can get past the zoning restrictions I only have room for about three or four regular sized solar panels, then I have to find a propane-fueled emergency generator that accepts the small tanks like you see on an outdoor grill. That still means I need to rely on the utility company for the majority of power needs since solar really does not provide all that much energy even on the sunniest days.
Add in the cost of the panels themselves, the price of the total number of batteries needed, and the cost for installing everything and I am not certain it is all that feasible yet.
Yes its kind of pricey. The system we are looking at and I have done literally hundreds of hours of research is a plug and play for about $15,000. Its 10 250 watt panels with about 10 batteries an inverter and a gravity tracking pole mount. The tracking pole mount gives you about 35% more efficiency than roof mounting. That system will push out about 400 plus KW per month. Way more than we will need. and its off grid. Don’t get a grid tie system as when the grid goes down your system won’t work.
Mr. GG2 is going to build a wood gasification generator so we can charge up our battery bank if we get some gray days which we do here in GA. The propane generator is a good idea also.