re: Stuff the utilities...
Too many people fail to realize that much of government regulation is an industry-government deal to help maintain the status quo.
I read an article describing the birth of cell phones, and telling how regulation probably held back the cell phone industry for years.
Same will probably be true for solar power. What we need from government is not subsidies and investment so much as we need them to get out of the way.
In a free society, you could sell your excess power directly to your neighbors. No doubt this violates about fifty laws right now.