Fuel Generator or Solar Panels?

Definitely solar and batteries. Our system from Windmar powered our whole home for five days straight during hurricane Fiona and has been flawless through all the power outages Puerto Rico has thrown at us.

Hello Mbcobblestone....Solar it is, we live in the country aka "el campo" here in PR, after running the numbers on a whole house commercial grade 20kw generator, running 24/7 for 1 year, as my neighbors assured me after hurricane María hit the island they had to run the diesel generator for they suffered no power in the area for 12 months before intermittent power was restored. With 140gal. tank, lasted 2 weeks and the costs was close to 25k in fuel to keep the generator running for that 1 year. So, we had a 20 panel solar system with battery back-up installed. And I got to say, a huge weight of concern has been removed. Suprisingly, all our appliances are working better than ever, specially the fridge and spare freezer....so yes, no more worries, we don't even realize when power is lost in our area anymore, only the sound of generators in the area alert us that power went out. So if anyone reading, if you live now in PR, do yourself a favor and get yourself some kind of electrical power system. Best of luck!!

What was the cost difference between generator and solar?

The solar decision has two elements - the panels and the battery.  The short answer is to get the panels but get a diesel generator rather than batteries. 

Solar companies give away more or less panels and make their margin on the batteries.  A good 20k diesel generator costs less than a minimal bank of Li-ion batteries.  An RK (local company) diesel is a workhorse and will sustain you forever in harsh conditions.  The electronic batteries are fragile and nowhere near as reliable. 

The typical outage these days is a couple of hours to a few days.  While the panels will supposedly charge up the batteries, it needs to be sunny to charge, and storm outages occur when it is less sunny.  If there is a disastrous storm like Maira, where the outage is for months, your panels will be toast.  In both cases, the generator will have you covered.  I installed panels paired with a good generator, and it works great.  Don't let the solar guy tell you it can't be done. 

@wpotvin Hello there...I agree, I have not had the experience of loss or fried out panels or backup battery so I can only take your statement at face value. I do have a fuel driven 6250kw generator which saved us from a dissaster power outage in Florida that lasted 3 + months. I will never get rid of it, it makes us feel "safe" having this extra backup. Regarding our panels, ours have charged our battery backup even when fully clouded and raining, not as fast as when sunny, but definetly charged it to a full charge. Our system also comes with a full 25 year warranty that covers/ includes panels and battery. Having a fuel generator also is always a good idea. I figure as old as I am, i will probably not be around to claim the warranty if I ever need it anyway, so I'll yield that issue to my surviving kids, for now, we run the whole house A/C around the clock when needed, no more power outage worries and no worries on my electric bill. As far as we are concerned, problem solved.