On the grid or off the grid.

Grid-tied installations are the easiest to set up, most efficient, and least expensive. A grid-tied installation can make your power meter run backward and sell electricity to the power company. Also, you can qualify for rebates under the California Solar Initiative, and Federal tax credits of up to 30%.
The downside of being grid-tied is that when the power goes out, you go out, too.

If your cabin in the woods is more than about a mile from an existing PG&E line, the cost of having a new line built to your doorstep is phenomenal. At one point of the cost curve it becomes more economical to go completely off-grid. Off-grid home installations usually require a much larger array of panels, and always require a battery backup system. Another option is a hybrid installation: tied to the grid, but with a battery backup system.

  "The electrical grid goes practically everywhere. It reaches into your home, your bedroom, and climbs right up into the lamp next to your pillow. It's there when you sleep, and it's waiting for you in the morning. Taken in its entirety, the grid is a machine, the most complex machine ever made. The National Academy of Engineering called it the greatest engineering achievement of the 20th century. It represents the largest industrial investment in history."