The fact is that people tend to do what is in their best interests. Meaning, what is going to save them money.
My daughter and son in law(the accountant) put up a solar array on their property in NH about five years ago. They didn’t do it because they are Liberals. They did not do it to be “green” or any other virtue signaling BS. They did it because there was a 30% federal tax credit and a one time NH incentive.
Based on my son in law calculations it will pay itself off within the next four years. Assuming Eversource does not raise their rates again. They do not plan on moving from this house. Therefore, starting in four years their cost of electricity per year will dramatically decrease. It will never be FREE. They are hooked up to the grid. However, the NET METERING payback price/KHW is locked in according to NH State law.
FYI, they also run a business out of their home selling frozen raw dog food. They have a walk in freezer(which I helped assemble) that uses a fair amount of juice too. In addition, they have an RV, Jeep Wrangler and recently bought a used Corvette. Not exactly “Green” vehicles.
In a way I'm fortunate that Alabama wasn't a net metering state when I researched whether or not to go solar. Thus, my inverters have the feature to turn off the grid sell (which means no putting power onto the grid so I don't experience the extra charges that go with that, and the extra regulations that go with that). Plus, my financial calculations for when it pays for itself doesn't depend on making money from the grid. So for most of the almost 3 years I've had solar I didn't sell power to the grid.
Half a year ago I changed my settings and began selling power to the grid. That was after having solar long enough to know that the extra costs for selling power to the grid are less that the money I get back per kWh (about 1/4th the rate I pay when I pull power from the grid).
As far as the regulation that all states have (rightly so) to require solar users to automatically disconnect from the grid if the grid power goes down (to protect linemen working on the grid), my inverters automatically do that without cutting power to the house. If that regulation changes and I'm required to cut off power to my house when the grid goes down (if I'm selling power to the grid), fine. I'll quit selling power to the grid with a few settings changes (no having to buy inverters with that feature because it was already accounted for when picking the equipment).