Solar for an off-grid home in Colorado

A grid-tied system uses the utility as an infinitely large, free battery: surplus goes out in July, and the grid supplies what panels can’t on a snowy weekday in January. That makes the solar array smaller, the battery optional and the whole thing cheaper. Our crews, our equipment lines (Tesla, Enphase, SigEnergy) and our permitting experience are built around that design.

Off-grid work is a different trade. It means load audits down to the appliance, DC-coupled charge controllers, generator auto-start integration, and service calls when the bank runs low in a February storm. Companies that do it well do it as their main business, often in the mountain and western parts of the state. If you need that, hire one of them; a grid-tied shop taking an off-grid job as a side project is how people end up with systems that don’t work in winter.

Start with the battery bank, because it decides everything else. An off-grid home has to ride through two or three cloudy days without sun, so the bank is sized to days of autonomy, not to an evening peak. A modest all-electric-avoided household might run 20–40 kWh of storage; a home with a well pump, electric appliances and a workshop can need double that. Lithium banks in that size range are a large share of total cost.

Then a backup generator, non-negotiable in Colorado. December production at elevation can be a third of summer’s, snow can bury an array for a week, and the days you need heat most are the dimmest. Propane generators with automatic transfer are the norm, and propane also handles space heat, water heating and cooking so the electrical load stays small. Electric resistance heat off a battery bank is not a plan.

Finally, load discipline. Off-grid households learn to run the washer at noon, skip the electric dryer, and watch state of charge like a fuel gauge. That’s fine for some people and miserable for others. Be honest with yourself about which household you are before you buy the hardware.

We don’t sell these, so treat the following as market context rather than a quote. A small, carefully managed off-grid home with a 5–8 kW array, a 20–40 kWh battery bank, inverter, charge control and a propane generator with transfer switch commonly lands in the $40,000–$90,000 range installed; larger homes with bigger banks go well beyond that. Prices vary by installer, region and equipment, and battery replacement eventually recurs.

Compare that with a line extension. Co-ops charge per foot to extend service, and a long run can be expensive, but it’s a one-time cost that then gives you unlimited energy in any weather. Get the extension quote before you decide; a surprising number of “off-grid” properties are a few thousand feet from a line.

Incentives don’t rescue the math as they once did. The federal 30% residential credit (§25D) ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025, as of September 2026. Colorado’s state battery sales-tax exemption and its 10% battery income-tax credit (tax years through 2026) still apply to residential storage; confirm the details with your tax advisor.

Most people who say “off-grid” mean some mix of: no more bill, lights on during outages, not depending on the utility. A grid-tied solar system with a Powerwall 3 or SigenStor and a backup-loads panel delivers most of that. Panels cover the annual bill in most Colorado territories. The battery carries the essentials through an outage and recharges from the panels the next morning, for as many days as the outage lasts.

What you keep is the grid as a safety net for January, which means a smaller battery, no generator, no load discipline, and a system that costs roughly $25,000–$45,000 for a typical home with one battery at our $2.80–$3.25 per watt solar pricing. Add a second battery if you want more backed-up circuits. That’s the version we install, and it’s the right answer for the large majority of people who land on this page.

The exception is a property with no utility service and an unaffordable line extension. Then off-grid is the only option, and the right move is an off-grid specialist, a propane plan, and a budget that includes the generator and the battery bank.