Solar panels make sense if you lack access to the grid. With lower energy consumption in home appliances and more efficient panels available it is now a somehow practical solution. Vaccum solar water heaters are practical too nowadays.
The problem is a cost though. This stuff cost much and has relatively short life cycle to be somehow economically reasonable for people who indeed has access to grid.
Solar is a niche product. I have had neighbors when we lived in SC who used solar as an effective supplement to the regular electric grid.
A well constructed and properly installed solar system with a good battery system attached can be useful and pay for itself. RV owners, particularly if they live full time in their rig, can effectively use solar to power their HVAC and other electric systems for a few days to weeks while boondocking or otherwise not hooked up to a power grid.
However, solar’s utility is tied very much to location/climate/weather, and electric consumption. Relatively dry. sunny, areas, and comparatively low electric demands are a lot more amenable to solar than the opposite.
But it is still a niche product, great for some, useful for others, and stupid for a lot of people.