Yes, solar is about a 12 year ROI up here in NH based on the current installed cost/KWH net metering(at least it was when I checked about a year ago).
I am 59. I am not sure I want to be in this house for that ROI to pay itself off.
However, I recently watched a YouTube video posted a couple years back by a guy in KY that installed his own free standing array. He ordered everything from Mission Solar out of Texas. They drop shipped it(less than truckload)to his residence. He built the support system for the array out of PT lumber.
He installed the panels himself. The micro converters. The wiring including underground conduit. He brought that into a shop/garage building about 30’ from his residence. He did hire an electrician for the final wire up to his existing home/grid system.
He still qualified for the Federal Tax credit of 26%-28%(whatever it was then) of the system cost. However, instead of spending $30-$35K for the system, it was around $12-13K less the tax credit.
My point is that his payoff became about 5 years or less based on his calculations.
Again, he did not put the panels on his roof.
He built the support system out of 4x4 and 4x6 PT lumber.
He had his own tractor with back hoe attachment to dig holes. He supplied 90% of the labor. He also cut down trees to increase the solar gain. He only brought an electrician in to do the final hook up and inspect his work.
Mission Solar will sell direct to the consumer. No middleman mark up.
I like the idea of avoiding roof install. Seems like a good way to avoid water leaks.
I, too, have Mission Solar panels made in Texas. But I'm not comfortable with doing the labor with that much power. Plus, with the upgrade I'm doing I'm adding a new electrical panel with the EV in mind (though I'll put a couple of other circuits in it too). My inverters will optionally power the new panel only when I have at least 80% SOC (or whatever I set it too). The idea being that I'll have two 240V outlets to choose from when I charge my EV: one that's constantly powered and one that's intermittently powered. If I come home with the EV, have over 120 or so miles left on the charge, and no plans to drive a long trip, I'll plug it into the intermittently powered outlet. Otherwise I'll plug it into the constant powered outlet.
The idea being that I can probably charge my EV for free about 90% of the time with the intermittently powered outlet (assuming I'm correct that 80% left in my home batteries is more than enough to power my house until the next batch of sunlight for my panels, which it almost always will be with 90kWh of battery storage). But if I come home and need a charge without care if it's free or not, I'll have the constant powered outlet too.
Doing that consistently helps me not only with ROI, but also still have power on most days when the Dims make our power about as unreliable as it is in 3rd world countries like California.