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Relevant to my interests.

Due to the shitty laws here if I go solar I'd be 100% cutting the chord as a grid tie-up makes no sense financially.

I'd also have to factor in generators for power tools/welding too.

They offer small incentives on the purchase of the panels (not the rest of the setup). The killer here is the effect of two rules.

1) If you have batteries, you cannot have a mains hookup. This is because some electricity companies try to price discriminate between peak times and off peak. The thinking goes if they allow batteries with a mains hookup people will charge the batteries with off peak power and then never pay for peak electricity.

2) If you have a mains tie-in, you are not charged for your net usage (consumption - production). You are charged for all of your mains consumption at the retail rate, while being paid a 'wholesale' rate which is only a fraction of this for surplus electricity sent back to the grid. As a result you would have to produce several (5-6) times more electricity during the day than you use at night to end up with a zero electricity bill.

If we had a one in one out system of billing I would very seriously consider a solar system, as it is it seems like a big expense for only a moderate return.