Do you have anything on a whole house diesel generator running biofuel with solar and battery backup ? ;-)
Different tools for different jobs. Currently available home generators typically use fuel cells to strip the hydrogen from natural gas, which is far more efficient that combustion.
However, Acumentrics Corp. is producing one that will run on natural gas, propane, ethanol, diesel, biogas, and biodiesel.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/684/
The downside is that they only produce 5kw, which may or may not be enough energy for peak home consumption.
The best applications for solar are not primary power delivery, but marginal power delivery, as well as advanced electrolysis, separating oxygen and hydrogen from water, not for energy production, but for water sanitation.
That is, gaseous oxygen is a good alternative to chlorine to sanitize water. So much so that the US Olympic Swim Team now uses it in their practice pools, because it is much less harsh.
The downside of hydrogen and oxygen production is compression, which is highly dangerous. But this is no problem for sanitation, as the oxygen can be introduced through the pool pump system, by using the Venturi effect. This would also be an efficient way to sanitize a cistern.
Finally, batteries have some limitations that make them less than ideal for energy storage, compared to capacitors, which have had some technological breakthroughs in the last few years. The latter also have more desirable charge and discharge curves.
But it is all in competition with grid energy, which is still very inexpensive, and can deliver as needed. It shouldn’t be neglected as part of the overall possibilities.