Solar panels only outperform a human when the sun is shining. From the article: "But what if skies remained gray for many days in a row? Rather than trying to

Solar panels only outperform a human when the sun is shining. From the article: "But what if skies remained gray for many days in a row? Rather than trying to purchase enough battery storage to cover all reasonable eventualities, I decided that my backup source of electricity needed a backup itself, one that I could use to charge that battery during times when my photovoltaic panels won’t function" As a primary source of energy a cycle generator doesn't make a lot of sense. But as an on demand source to cover occasional periods of low solar generation it's a great hack.