Thanks for sharing some better numbers. For the home I described, I priced out a solar system with battery bank that I think would have provided well beyond th

Thanks for sharing some better numbers. For the home I described, I priced out a solar system with battery bank that I think would have provided well beyond the needs of the home, and depending on how fancy the system estimated the cost to be between $15-$25k. I basically looked at average energy usage for homes of a similar size in the area and doubled it. Given that the home was built in the past 5 years using modern insulation and building techniques, and the average age of comparable homes was 20+ years old, I figured that doubling my estimates would provide plenty of capacity. I have no idea if I'm right. That said, if it were me, I'd have picked solar even if the cost was the same or even a bit more. The property has plenty of space for panels, rarely isn't sunny, and doesn't get a lot of snow (this year being an exception, but even then, maybe only saw enough snow to make an impact on a single day here or there so far). If I were sizing a system for the main ranch buildings, it'd easily approach the $200k you mentioned. It takes a lot of juice to supply a machine shop, irrigation systems, barn heating, lighting etc. For that, a combo of solar, wind (which there's no shortage of in southern Utah) and traditional util provided electricity would make more sense (but would still cost a lot up front).