Alan,
Good thread mate!.
I've said here before about a mate of mine that has a solar system that he derives power from to run 90% of his power needs.
He still has the mains running to his house and he uses it for the occasional running of his range and the washing machine.
Where his is different, however, is that his is totally independant of the mains supply, the systems are seperate.
He has (I think) 9 panels, feeding into an array of 2V cells (Ex-Telecom cells) wired in banks to give a 12V output to a 2000W Sine Wave Inverter.
He has a heap of current monitors and all sorts of other gear associated with it, it's pretty involved.
He did have an ordinary old Square wave inverter when he first started the system, but the local Radio Inspector pinged him for excess RFI, it was found that the Inverter was radiating a signal that could be measured quite a way down the street!.
Bear in mind though, that this guy doesn't use a lot of power, he lives by himself and has a fire to heat his water and his house is so well insulated, it's a wonder the bricks haven't started popping out of the outside walls.
His favourite question at Radio club meetings is:
How much was your power bill last month?.
He only pays a few dollars above the line charges, it makes me sick. [Linked Image]