"going of the grid" is a lot harder than you think. First of all electricity either needs to be used as it is produced, which is the most feasible alternative, or stored to be used at a later date. Ie a battery, which is very inconvenient and not cost effective. Just an example: we use lead acid batteries for a back up system in our substations, we generally use 24 batteries for a small 69kv package sub. Its primary purpose is to have control over the DC system in case the AC goes down. It only lasts for about three days if the AC is out. This is not a continuous load for three days its a if we need x amount of power to operate breakers load we have it available to us for three days before we loose the battery ability. These batteries are close to $12K. There should also be a secondary containment, since it is lead acid, and ventilation to dissipate any gas build up. These batteries are roughly the same size as a car battery. I have been in business's that had UPS's (uninterrupted power supply's) but they were rooms filled with 100's of batteries. And this is just to store the power. Currently we can only store electricity in DC form, but our house uses AC. So we need to convert it. This is where the hole solar panel idea loses me. The converter, inverter or rectifier (what ever you want to call it) generally the first piece of equipment that goes bad in the solar system. It is probably the most important piece of equipment and is the most expensive part. I have seen people spend $20K for a system and in 2,3 or 5 years have this piece of equipment go bad and its another $3-5K to replace it. And you need this piece of equipment. All of the green methods for producing electricity produce in the form of DC, wind, water, solar anything that we as a small consumer would use would come from those three options. In the long run there might not be a financial savings, it just depends on the system built, where you live, the quality of the system, and how long will the system last.
Bonsainut would you mind sharing how much the system actually costs. Before all the government rebates (which might be there from year to year), local utility rebates ( again same as feds, which can also vary from utility to utility). I am thinking between $20-30k yes or no. You did, from the sounds of it, put a pretty large system up.
Also IMO $.25 a kw is highway robbery. My local utility starts at $.11 to .14 for the first two tiers and jumps to $.27 for the third tier and its just ridiculous. The Utility company I work for charges 30% less then my local utility provider. But that is the difference between a company that has shareholders and a municipality. Sorry for the long wind, just wanted to point out that its really not that easy to go off the grid especially when were talking about it in a reef keeping forum!!!
Kudoz to you bonsai for taking the plunge I really do hope it works out for you in the long run. I too aspire to put a solar system on my roof, or build it into my roof when I build my house, I just don't think the technology is there.