I wanted to respond to the “solar is worthless because of winter” statement.
I have an off-grid house where I live and have worked remotely for 10+ years.It sits literally 3 minutes from the Canadian border and is on the same latitude as Nova Scotia. It is completely solar-powered with four 260w solar panels connected to an MPPT controller and Outback inverter and 4-250 amp AGM sealed batteries. There IS no grid electricity - so that’s not even an option. It’s solar - or nothing.
I can have 4 inches of snow on my panels and still have charge going into my batteries. I run a generator every 3 days, as necessary, and never allow discharge below 70%. My batteries last 7 years on average. Nothing else has been switched out or upgraded and the entire setup cost approximately $6000.00 completely installed in 2014 and I use the same setup summer AND winter. (And, yes, I was still getting charge into my batteries with this much snow on them…not at 100% - but enough to keep the lights on until I could clear some snow off… )
On other hand, I don’t expect to live the “American Dream” of unlimited electric usage. No one is going to be happy with solar if they are running a few 100w panels on their roof and then expect to use coffee machines, hairdryers and run a television or a gaming station 23 hours a day, Your lifestyle will change because you will become acutely aware that “energy conservation” means more than adjusting a thermostat!
In my new van, I will be using a setup of a 3600-7200W AC Output and inverter with 800w of solar panels (it can take up to 1600w). It can be charged with an alternator, separate car battery, solar panels, an EV charging station, its own gas generator, AC wall charging - and - coming soon - a roof-mounted mobile wind turbine. (Which I find very interesting indeed…) This new setup will more than triple the setup I have at my house. I don’t expect any problems at all with energy - but it takes some adjusting of expectations and lifestyle!
The new panels will not be roof-mounted since I want the ability to move them to the best position possible wherever I’m at and they fold up and will fit nicely in the van garage. I will initially be using them to power my apartment here in Amsterdam. (It also has its own Home panel that will act as a sub-panel to power the house.)
What I am saying is that you can live witth solar year-round - but expect to adjust your expectations and lifestyle accordingly. Just saying that “solar doesn’t work in winter” - just simply isn’t accurate given my own experience with several years of solar energy in very harsh winter conditions.
Cheers!