I have been tempted to reply several times to this thread. I have found solar power very useful in limited applications, all off grid.
The solution I like the most is solar water pumping, no batteries as the storage tank with gravity feed, stores the energy. I do not care for them at all if going with a pressure tank (with batteries).
I am ok with off grid housing, but the stuff I've done here is for temporary housing (the occupants, not the structures). As such, I can cheat on the sizing. It still gets very costly.
I am a fan of having a solar panel on the top of a RV. But we RV owners must have money to burn, and we already have the batteries. I do not care for the idea of solar powered RV connections, but in working through that, I have come up with compromises where we provide a solar powered charge your battery (only for more permenant guests like a site host).
Having provided generator power for off grid residences, I like the hybrid (using both generator and solar) though there are many that I have designed generator only because of initial cost.
My first and foremost choice is just to connect to the grid. When solar does become reasonable, I would like to adopt it and convert. My money is safe for a few years at least.
It is nice to have the choice and even better to have electricity. I have lived where running water meant sending the house boy out to the community well with a bucket and electricity was available 1-2 hours per week. I am thankful to live now where when you talk about things like this and people are in awe and miss the point saying "You had a maid and a house boy?" I would much rather have the running water, electrical service, gas service, garbage service, paved roads, and the vermin free house.
