Solar panels on the roof

Over the years I have considered solar a number of times. My beef is that no matter how many panels I install, I can't "go off the grid". In California you have to pump the power you get off the roof into your Edison meter, like you mentioned. If there is a power outage, I'm just as dead in the water as my neighbors.
Unless I jump on the battery backup plan, with something like a Tesla wall in the garage.
Something else I considered was the fact that solar panels are becoming more and more efficient all the time. Hate to spend thousands on a set up that is "old school" in a year or two.
Also, my roof is 20 years old. Do I plaster solar panels onto a roof that may need replacement in a few years? Do I replace the roof first, even though it's still in good shape?

Before you invest, be sure to do a thorough review of the installation company. There are some real horror stories about shoddy workmanship, serious roof damage, poor response times for repairs, and flat out incompetent staff.

I hate the idea that you could spend an insane amount of money on solar panels and then be forced to share it to the grid. I wonder how it works during a prolonged power outage. Everyone on your street gets a useless kilowatt or do you have full benefit of your $65k investment?

This is like growing a garden and being forced by a grocery store chain to share your produce.

Is an off-grid system not allowed in California? It seems to me that households should be running a split system with no tie to the grid. Solar charges a battery bank that always powers lighting and keeps devices charged and other light power uses. Then let the grid handle AC/Heat, and refrigerators, etc. That way the load on the grid system is always less than otherwise and when power goes out people still have lights and communications and at least a fan or two.
The metered grid tie-in adds unwanted complexity and is not needed.

I never did it as I'm skepticle about roof leaks. Ran into someone a while back that told me he had to replace three trusses and most of the plywood due to small leaks that were just big enough to keep it moist but showing no signs at ceiling level. No thanks,maybe on the ground,never on the roof!

I would hold off as the current administration is bound to push through better subsidies for solar and wind as part of climate change or infrastructure legislation. 

^^ All of the companies selling home solar seem locked into grid tied system. Ask what happens when the power grid goes down and you get "for our line workers safety your system will be offline until the problem is resolved", and so you have no back up at all, you are simply generating extra power for the company. And you are selling wholesale and buying retail. Not a great investment, imo.

If you were totally off-grid, I don’t see how you could be compelled to contribute to anyone other than yourself. The grey area is when you try to have both solar and power from the grid.

In most states if you have a manual transfer switch (MTS) or an automatic transfer switch (ATS) then it turns off the grid and lets you use the solar when there is a blackout. It’s a hard switch the breaks connection with the grid. You can feed or feed off of a battery bank as well. When no black out you charge the battery during the day and use it at night.

I honestly feel that the whole "solar panels on your roof" is a big scam. I can't tell you how many people have knocked on my door or called me trying to sell it to me. My answer is always the same. "You can put your panels on my roof, but it costs YOU (the company) $500 per month to rent the space on my roof AND I get ZERO electric bills". My wife just rolls her eyes at me and looks away...

Here's why: The very second your meter starts spinning backwards, you are are producing power that THE COMPANY is selling back to the grid. You as a consumer are very limited by law (depending on your state) as to the amount you can actually sell back the grid. Here in NY, the utility companies have the politicians so thoroughly in their pockets that the utilities can never not make money. So essentially the solar company finds out what you pay on average monthly for electric, they they offer you a monthly bill that is somewhat lower than what you are paying ostensibly to "pay off" the the cost of their equipment on your roof, usually over a 20 or 25 year term. By the way, they got big time government dollars to pay for that gear, they aren’t paying for anything.  Meanwhile, they are selling the power generated by the equipment that you now own (on a mortgage of sorts) at market rate as a commodity and you're still paying for it.  

And if you sell the house and the new buyer doesn't want the equipment, it has to be removed and the roof repaired - IF you can get them to come out and do the job. Provided of course that they are still around and you can get in touch with them.  Same deal if you need a new roof.  Oh, and if they go out of business or get bought by another company, there's no guarantee that those deals will be honored.  And the equipment? At the end of the 20 or 25 year term and the equipment is paid off, guess what?? The equipment is pretty much burnt out and no longer serviceable and has to be removed and/or replaced. 

It gets better...You could BUY the equipment yourself and install it, but it is ridiculously expensive (only the solar companies got billions of dollars from the federal and state governments to subsidize equipment - you and I don't qualify) AND solar isn't really efficient, returning generally at best $4-6 worth of power for every $100 in equipment. 

Those certainly have a better appearance.

If one only expects a short term disruption of the grid then a generator is the obvious choice, as long as they are still allowed. Hurricane areas need to plan for longer outages. After a huge ice storm left Nashville without power for about nine days our neighbor bought a very expensive whole house generator tied into natural gas line. It's been over twenty five years and he has not needed it once.

Since 2020 most new homes in California are required to have solar on the roof