Ignore the haters. Spend a few thousand bucks on some used PV panels on ebay, get a bunch of used batteries, and teach yourself enough electronics to DIY build

Ignore the haters. Spend a few thousand bucks on some used PV panels on ebay, get a bunch of used batteries, and teach yourself enough electronics to DIY build everything else. That'll take you a bit of time, but you'll learn a TON and it's fun. It'll be a while before you get to the point where you can safely hook up to the grid "DIY", so don't do that. As other posts have mentioned, how the national grid works is fascinating and non-trivial. (I love knowing that stuff, just because I'm a dork)