AC power is very different to DC power. A great deal of the efficiency loss and cost associated with small-scale renewable power is in DC-AC conversion, grid co

AC power is very different to DC power. A great deal of the efficiency loss and cost associated with small-scale renewable power is in DC-AC conversion, grid connectivity and associated regulatory concerns. Third party professional installations for house-type solar will bundle all of this and be expensive. More progressive installations and new builds can just go 100% DC and drop the AC and the grid entirely. Whether this is appropriate is case-dependent. It's easier if you cook, shower and heat with gas. This obviously restricts internal design decisions but is totally possible, provides better results, greatly reduces regulatory overheads and safety concerns and is closer to what we see on cruising yachts which often have combinations of wind generation, solar generation and propeller-based generation. Another concern is energy storage methodology. If you are building a new site you can consider interesting storage technologies such as buried flywheels vs. batteries. Some of these techniques will cost more up front but function far longer with far less maintenance. Fossil-fuel based generators are a good backup option. You really need to profile the loads in terms of peak and continuous draw plus cycle time and frequency before specifying storage. Note that distribution cabling is expensive. Both copper and aluminium are going up in price and even at wholesale rates here in China heavier gauge copper cable is USD$1.5/meter or so (bare). Cheaper aluminium cables cost about 25% of that but Al is brittle and develops resistance over time owing to surface oxidation, contributing to the probability of delayed failures. You could start with reading your national electrical code and national building code to understand the installation applicable regulations.