Welcome Dennis,

I would recommend you look into wind power as an alternative to PV solar. I think you might find that the cost per kilowatt is going to be a lot less expensive, although wind power is not as modular as PV solar is, so you can't build it up slowly over time as easily. Depending on how much wind you average at your site, a variable blend of the two applications is going to be ideal I suspect. You might also look into larger capacity water storage on site, but now we are talking more about long term survival which is a different forum on this portal.

Anyways, hope you enjoy the discussions.