I think cost is relative to what you can do yourself and what you have to pay others to do for you. I think a lot of money is misspent simply because folks dont realize the limitations of what their systems can do. Everybody wants to be able to flip a switch and have everything come on just like they are still tied to the grid, but do it yourself electrical systems can only work that way if the conditions are right for it to do so. It is said that every 1 KW of power you can save is the same as generating 3 KW of electricity, in other words, its cheaper to save a little power than it is to make a lot of it. Small hydrosystems parts are fairly cheap and produce limited amounts of power. A old gm alternator can be bought for less than $100. With a little as 10ft of fall and a 1inch stream of water, that alternator can produce enough power that the payback can be measured in months, not years. The first hydro system I saw was no more than a car alternator and a tubine hooked to a roll of black plastic pipe. That was over 20years ago. The guy used golf cart batteries for storage. He had a gas refridgerator and gas stove and the alternator supplied everything else. The guy that build that system passed away last wk at the age of 89. He had been using his system for over 30 year. I talked to his son last wk and he claimed that the alternator and batteries where the same ones that had been originally installed over 30 years ago. I would guess that the system more than paid itself back. Of course, I have no ideal how much power was actually generated or used, but it worked for him. He had a small steam and used 2in black pipe to run the water to his power plant. to run todays modern houses with all the expected appliances, would take a bigger system than what this guy had and of course the cost would also go up to install such a system. If your not willing to make sacrifices, its going to cost you a lot of money to build a off grid power supply to just flip a switch so everything comes on.
