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PV solar power can only be competitive with grid power for someone close to the grid in my area (over 300 sun days per year), if he does good research (theory, products, prices, etc.) and installation himself. And a self-install must be inspected and strictly to code (NEC). A self-install can also be dangerous for anyone who lacks safety knowledge

I would make as many things in the home as non electric as I could. Stove, oven, hot water heater, I would go gas. If you use solar for heating water I would have gas as a back up. I would also get a 4200 watt generator. I have a friend with solar in a fairly remote area. A year or two ago I wired in a 12 volt freezer for him. The solar basically powers lights, freezer, fridge, TV and that's about it. The heat is wood stove the hot water and range is gas. He also has a generator for bad weather or breakdowns.

In East Tennessee anyone using solar alone is going to be in a world of hurt unless they live out in the middle of a field on top of a high ridge. To give you some idea a green Wally World was built nearby using sky lights as the primary lighting for daytime. It's like being in a room with someone flipping the lights off and on.

"In East Tennessee anyone using solar alone is going to be in a world of hurt unless they live out in the middle of a field on top of a high ridge."

Agreed. I once lived not so far from there. Now I'm at over 9,000 ft. elev. in the West with sunny days almost all year. Even wind turbines work here, if they're built strong enough (high winds nearly all winter require large, heavy, open, homebuilt alternators on trailer hubs with the new MPPT controller). But we pay for it with weather so cold, that most people couldn't imagine it, and high winds most of the year (e.g. 30 below with 80 mph + winds and icy snowdrifts, once in a while, taller than me).

If I were in a much cloudier place, I'd almost surely go with much firewood, insulation and frugality.

"To give you some idea a green Wally World was built nearby using sky lights as the primary lighting for daytime. It's like being in a room with someone flipping the lights off and on."

So true. Can't emphasize that enough. Here, there's also very little atmosphere overhead. Go outside in a dark colored shirt on a summer day with 65-70 degrees in the shade, and pretty quick, the shirt'll get really hot and smell like it's being ironed...and stay that way. It's not like most oxygen-rich places at all.