Trying to Figure Out How to Get Started

Hi Alt E Forums,

I've searched and called on solar consultants on and off over the last few months but get discouraged because I can't seem to get close to a solution will do what I want and will fit in my budget.  The 4 or 5 people I've talked to are very nice and very helpful but the back of the envelope cost estimate seems to fall in the $60k to $100k range, which is way out of our budget. 

The system would be for my parents and I think they'll invest $10,000 or so in a system (maybe $20k if I can convince them they'll definitely get rebates).  One of their neighbors has a system that he has pieced together over the years with used equipment from here and there and it does everything we would want it to do.  Although he has hundreds of hours invested, he makes it sound like he only has a feew thousand dollars invested.  Although we're not as handy as he is, I'm struggling with the idea of paying $60,000 to buy the same thing he got for a few thousand.  I would prefer to get a more dependable and efficient and new system, but if I can't do it for $10 - $20k, I might just ask the neighbor if we can pay him to build a junker.

•   Historical usage for the house/garage is as follows:

year        avg kWh/day   avg kWh/mth   avg kWh/yr
1996        48.79              1,463.7      17,808.35
1997        56.97              1,709.1      20,794.05
1998        57.03              1,710.9      20,815.95

•   From what I’ve read, it’s easier to be either on-grid or off-grid.  But I want to have both.  I want to typically be on grid and use AltE as a supplement, but I also want the ability to be fully independent, in case the world falls apart for a while and there is no grid.  While being off-grid, we wouldn't need to be able to power the entire house, but it would be nice to know we have power for the well pump, the t.v., the oven and few lights here and there.  From what I can tell on the web, we need a “transfer switch” to be able to switch back and forth from on-grid to off-grid.  I think I read somewhere that some of the inverters have the transfer switch built in, but I don’t know if it’s more efficient and cost effective to have a separate transfer switch or one that’s built in to the inverter.

•   My parents live in the CA desert halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  It’s hot in the summer and also has great wind.  Ideally, we could take advantage by having a hybrid system with both solar and wind.

•   Not absolutely necessary, but would be cool if there was also a way to hook up a generator to send power to the batteries/inverter.  Worst case, if we’re off-grid and there is no sun and no wind, then we could fire up the generator. If this is WAY more expensive, we would probably skip it.

•   Would be cool to have a scalable system where we could simply install and plug in extra solar panels and extra batteries, in the future, if we needed a bigger system, as opposed to having to re-engineer the whole thing and waste the money we already spent.

•   We could do alot of the install work (solar panels and turbine tower) but would probably need an electrician or specialist to help with the wiring and complicated stuff.

Questions are as follows:

-Are the $60k and $100k estimates realistic?  Or are they opportunistic?

-Am I asking for the system to do too much, which is making it more expensive than it needs to be?

-Should I find one company who will sell me the equipment and also do the install and also help me figure out rebates?  Or, should I be buying the equip one place, hiring someone else to install it, and figuring out rebates on my own?

Sorry for the long post.  Any recommendations would be most appreciated.