Wow. Thank you for your post. Very informative. Someday I am sure I will have to have solar (Florida might make it mandatory someday), but I printed your post so that I have it ready. In our community, we all have electric....would love gas especially for the stove but the HOA said no when they started building. Anyway, it is nice that you were able to keep your electric on when everyone else went out......good think the neighbors didn’t know or you would have had a lot of company. lol.
Florida has had Solar for water heaters for generations; my parents did. Just run the water through black collectors on the roof, and then store it in your hot water tank. Only use a little electricity to run the pumps. Much more sensible than using photovoltaic cells to produce electricity, which you use to heat the water. Photovoltaic cells produce plenty of electricity when the sun is shining, but the problem is storing the energy for when it is not. That and maintenance. No system is maintenance free.