[ta1243]

If I fully decked my roof out I can generate a good 20kWp

I'm assuming OP isn't actually serving out of home (starlink won't help with it's CG-Nat), so it's not like they're running 5kW of servers. 10kWh a day seems perfectly reasonable amount to keep going.

Given just running a generator it going to eat 20 litres a day on lowest load, over 3 weeks that's 400 litres you'd need to store.

With a battery setup even if you had to charge from a generator you'd be able to run it more efficiently for a shorter period.

So having spend 10 minutes I reckon the answer is "yes, OP should certainly get a solar/battery system set up"

[s1artibartfast]

That's crazy. There are huge differences is costs and use cases.A generator is $500, and mine can run for 24hrs on 5 gallons of gas. A 5kw solar system is about $25k to 35k in my area before batteries.

[ta1243]

Solar is far cheaper than that in my location - especially if you put the panels up yourself, and storing 100 gallons of gas (400 litres) to run for 3 weeks is far more expensive.

[jaredhallen]

I realize this isn't the case for everyone, but I already have a large propane tank that supplies the house. My generator is tied in to that. So I'm not storing fuel specifically for the generator, but if it came down to it I could probably power the house for a couple months at least. And our geography and flora are pretty unfavorable for solar. So as with most things, it just depends.

[s1artibartfast]

Storing 400 litres of gas in my area would cost about $250 USD for 2 new 55 Gallon barrels, maybe more if you want a nice pump.

I had a 10,000 gal tank put in for agricultural diesel, and that cost about $5,000.

[grecy]

> A 5kW solar system is about $25k to 35k in my area before batteries.

Do you live on the moon?

Earlier this year I installed a 7.8kW system in Canada for $13k CAD all in, inc the inverter and labor. (Then I got a $5k subsidy to bring it to $8k out of pocket.)

It’s cheaper now, panel prices fall every month.

[s1artibartfast]

California - the moon might be cheaper. The whole system here is corrupt due to regulatory capture.

There are high permitting costs, high cost hardware requirements, and high cost of labor.

The state requires a 4 years of training to become a solar installer, so there is little competition.

Also, with every new house required by law to have solar, installers know they have a captive market and are milking it for all it is worth.

I dont think we have yet seen the cost impact of the new Tariffs on Chinese solar panels and batteries, so it will keep going up.

[grecy]

> California - the moon might be cheaper. The whole system here is corrupt due to regulatory capture

I'm always amazed at how for regular life things it seems you guys has less "freedom" than we do.

It's my house, so I got up on the roof and installed the panels myself (with a friend). I did pay for a licensed electrician to wire the inverter into the main house breaker and double check everything, and he did get a permit for that work (which was $150, IIRC). Then I emailed the electric company, three days later they came out and installed a bi-directional meter for $32 and I'm good to go.