I have experience with Wind, Solar and ThermoElectric. They all have their pros and Cons. I know guys who swear by Hydro Electric, but even those guys end up with problems when it gets too cold and the flow is slowed or even stopped by ice. Solar and Wind have issues related to conditions for generating power, but also breakage in extreme weather is a factor to keep in mind.

Personally, I think you should shoot for a system that integrates everything. Everything is expensive to get into and alot of it is pretty hard to do yourself without buying kits from somewhere.

You will cook and heat with fire, so a ThermoElectric generator's a good idea. Solar is readily available now, I saw kits on sale at Canadian Tire the other day that would have cost 3 or 4 times the price a few years back. There are kits for wind turbines on Ebay that are made to work with pretty much any budget. Of course Hydro depends on your ability to access water and the suitability of that water.

You could also consider BioGas to supplement cooking or water heating you might be doing. Though, I've not really encountered any cost effective kits yet.

Cheers.

Yes its never been simpler, or cheaper. and she did that 10 years ago...things were a lot more expensive then, panels are dirt cheap now...Being 10 years back and looking at the size of them I would guess 140 watt panels, maybe a little over 1kw in panels (only a wag, I wish they said). Thats all it takes to live comfortable, and she isn't going without anything, her choice in a composting toilet was just that a choice, not a feature of going off grid she could just as easily have a septic system, just costs more to put in. For Alberta/Saskatchewan 1+kw in panels will leave you (most people/situations, wood heat, propane stove) living comfortable 9.5 or so months of the year , but since they are so cheap may as well have double that and be rolling in power.
she doesn't say if she installed it or had it done, by the price she say's it could be done for today I think she means having it done. Once you go to propane for cooking, you have gotten rid of one of your biggest loads, going to wood heat gets rid of another, a furnace fan that in the winter could use 3kwhs or more just by itself,(a day)
if you do the work yourself 6500-7500 should get you a great system, 2500 watts in panels two separate charge controlers, 1350 amphrs if a 12 volt system, 675 if 24 volts in batteries, 2000-3000 watt inverter (with likely 2x surge) a genny, and charger. You wouldn't need to expand, and a couple could live like kings on that...You could, and I know people who do heat with gas, but its not with a forced air system, but direct vent wall mount radiator...these don't require blower motors or power, they work fine. I like wood but understand not everyone does If someone is developing a rural property, I don't think you could even get a hook up that involved having a pole or two put in for less than 5000, so its cheaper to go off grid now, and lots of people are doing just that in Alberta, doing the work themselves and saving big time, its becoming common.

Ofcourse a good propane stove will cost a bit 2000- 2500 new, but its money you only spend once, actually you can get good used gas stoves 250-400 off kijiji. You may have a problem ordering the propane jets yourself, some manufactuers no longer sell jets to the end users (at least that's what they have told me when I have tried to order them) but will sell them to repair shops and the repair shops often only sell them if they come out and put them in 🙄 ...Makes converting a stove from natural gas to propane expensive..often more than the used stove cost. So far I haven't come across any that you cant solder the orifice holes shut, and then drill out for propane, or peen shut and drill out, works for me..ymmv. Also buy the adjustable regulators for propane, they seem of better quality, and its nice to be able to adjust the incoming pressure to better suit your stove.

Just came back to correct myself yet again...no you don't have to spend lots of money for a new propane stove...you can but don't have to. I bought a danby for the downstairs kitchen 400.00 brand new....you don't have to change orifices with this model, just flip a adjustment screw over with a screw driver on the main regulator to switch from propane or natural gas..takes 30 seconds, my upstairs one has all fancy electronic controls but this one is ultra simple, and has pilot lights...you do pay a penalty having pilot lights and I notice more propane use for this stove as compared to my other one.

and yes, they don't come with that top. I just didn't like the dinky pot holder things so I used deck plate across the top

I actually would recommend solar electricity as the primary electrical generator for any relatively small house/cottage. Some say it's expensive, I say it's never been cheaper. A typical small cottage can easily run on 1000 watts of solar, which at todays prices is only about $1000. Add the inverter, batteries, etc.. and you can do a real decent expandable system for around $5000.
Use the gas generator as a back-up for extended cloudy days and it can be done. You will still need propane to heat water, cook and maybe even as a back up heater to you wood heat, but that's normal.
People that use solar in this way find it works well. People that try to take their regular house electrical load "off-grid" find that solar doesn't work, or isn't economical, but it's all based on scale. If your electrical consumption per day is (or can be made) low, then go for it.

I think you are right on the money, 5000 for a basic system, so much more for just a couple more thousand though....and do the work yourself....if you don't its roughly 2.5 times the cost, often 3.5 or so from what I have seen. You can source and order by best prices right over the net, You can of course spend way more than that if you wish,, some people order extra tracking/ recording/ display features with there system, some with remote internet access and controls that in my opinion isn't needed, but all these extra features start driving the costs up and reduce durability.

So it looks like I have to correct myself.... I said you have to get away from typical forced air type gas furnace for heat as that could burn through 3 kwhs just by itsself in a winters day.... I goofed..first you can run anything you wish if you have enough coin and like buying lead, but that 3 kw I kind of quickly guestimated. You see a typical home...say average up to 1200 sqft might have a 1/4 horse furnace motor, a little larger home maybe 1/3 hp, and a larger multi story could have 1/2 hp blower motor... I did my estimate quick in my head using the smallest thinking roughly 1/4 hp (like I have in my home) and that would be roughly 746watts /4= 187 watts I then assumed a 50% duty cycle, which is roughly what it would be at say- 15, -20 C. so that gets me roughly 2300watts in a day...I averaged up to allowed a little extra and said 3000watts. WRONG I wasn't on the ball, a 1/4 hp motor does not consume187 watts, the HP rating is what it puts out at the shaft, the motor can have all kinds of losses and use more power.....So when I got home I decieded to measure it. I fired up my furnace motor its a typical 1/4 hp for a smallish averageish home.....and measured it...385 watts!!!!! and on cold winter days of -15,-20 and a DC of 50% that would be 4600 watthrs a day, That's HUGE!!! and much more than that at cooler temps, and ofcourse less if the temp is warmer, Now many of you reading this will likely have larger motors than 1/4 hp. Not only are you going to need a huge battery bank just to run this one motor but you need lots of panels to keep that bank charged, and you will need that power most during the season with the least sun.....something to think about and the reason why wood heat and a 30 to 50 watt ceiling fan is what most people go with.

I am looking for a few components and I stumbled across this site that had pricing for basic packages (in Canada). I just cut and passed the following, He does not have the components broken down as to cost just the total.

Kit (1000 Watt PV) - 3000W Inverter $4,534.00
1x Littelfuse JLLN-300 300A/300V class T fuse
4x Rolls-Surrette S-550 deep-cycle flooded lead-acid battery, 428Ah @ 20h capacity
3x Battery interconnect 2/0, 12"
4x Jinko 250 Watt 60C Poly JKM250P PV module, 40mm silver frame, MC4
1x Lumberg MC4 Y connector (1) Male / (2) Female type MC4
1x Lumberg MC4 Y connector (2) Male / (1) Female type MC4
1x set of MC4 Extension wires for PV module, 15' PV-Wire
1x EP-Solar Tracer-4210RN, 40A MPPT charge controller 12/24V, 100V DC
1x Inverter cables 2/0, 10 ft. pair
1x MidNite Solar MNBCM, battery capacity meter for 12, 24, 36, and 48 volt
1x Cotek SK3000-124 pure sine wave inverter 3000W 24V

This is likely a system roughly = to what the woman in that link is using..and it sure doesn't look like she is going without anything!! and that 4534.00 is all inclusive..you couldn't have the power company come in and put up a pole for you for that price if you were developing a rural property.

That is a reasonable price overall, for a basic system. Now I went looking for another 1500 watts of Canadian made Panels as I like lots, and another charge controller, then four more batteries. I found the components to add to this basic package for 2500.00 (full retail) So that would bring the system up to 2500 watts in panels, and double the amp hour capacity. I think 800 amphrs at 24 volts is good for most homes.
So the cost would be 7000.00 total and you would have a great system. in reality if you shop for deals and took your time to select components you could knock roughly 500-1000 off this price, but for those not confident in putting their own system together the above basic package, while basic is good value for the dollar. In fact considering how low our dollar is right now, the pricing is good.

With a propane range (or wood cook stove if you prefer ) and wood heat you wouldn't be going without anything... I didn't put the web link up as I don't feel like advertizing for any one company....you can find such components and pricing across Canada, he just happened to have the whole package together so I am using it to show the cost.