If you are considering some variety of option power program in order to lower your electric bills, or even go off grid and produce all of your power,  there are two simple options.  The 1st is a wind power based method wind generators, windmills, or wind  turbines.  The second is a solar power based program solar panels or cells. Every single of these  has their own particular merits, but neither one is perfect.  The predicament with each of these systems is that in the occasion that there is no sun or wind, you won't be generating any power.  So what should you do?  The answer is to combine the two into a hybrid system.
What is a hybrid technique?  It's a mixture of two or way more alternative energy sources solar power and wind power for instance.   By combining two or far more separate systems, you will help to even out their characteristic peaks and valleys in power production.  Solar panels  only generate energy when they are exposed to sunlight. This renders them useless at night or on a cloudy day.  If you set up a hybrid system and combine a wind generator with your solar panels, there is a much much better likelihood that you will create usable power even when your solar generator won't. When it comes to extending your power production, it is painless to see the rewards of a hybrid program.
If you want to go entirely off the grid, and need to have a continuous supply of power, you'll need to add some kind of engine driven electrical generator to your hybrid technique.  This generator would be employed to charge your storage batteries in the occasion that there was no wind or sun to produce power for a considerable period of time.  The downside to this is that the generator would most most likely be driven by an engine that demands a provide of expensive fuels diesel, gasoline, or propane.  Based on the size of your storage system - size and number of batteries, the amount that the generator would have to run could be significantly minimized. 
So just before you begin building, it really is a wonderful concept to identify specifically what your power requirements are, whether or not you will be grid-tied, and how considerably reserve power you'll need to have.  Realizing this will assist you determine what kind of hybrid program is correct for your circumstance.