Cheap photovoltaic/alternative energy

Some reject roll roofing likely to leak water may be available for perhaps $800 per panel 10 meters by one meter) but it does need some sort of frame to tilt it toward the South to South-west. The frame needs to survive strong wind gusts. A bad sand storm could destroy the photo voltaic. The panels need to be cleaned occasionally, or the output will reduced considerably.
For starters, I suggest installing the panels in power line right-a-ways near existing transformers. That way the inverters could put the power onto one of the three phases of the lower voltage power line with much of the power being used nearby, which would improve efficiency, and lower initial cost without compromising the existing installation. I think this strategy would sometimes work for megawatt arrays of panels. 1000 panels produce one megawatt on the average over a year. 1000 panels is only 1% of a square kilometer, but there are already perhaps a million transformers in very sunny locations world wide, so this would be a significant start.
If the solar array got so big the transformer(s) are at risk, the panels could provide shelter for some electrolizers which made hydrogen to sell to local residents (like a vending machine) who had hydrogen powered vehicles or other uses for hydrogen. Neil

If it's for domestic power, the first thing I'd do is to install solar hot water. That cuts out a major part of the power load, and the conversion efficiency is better.

In Manheim, Germany, 30 years ago, They had a warm water utility. Solar water heaters could supplement the other sources of almost free warm water, such as water cooled steam turbines, air conditioning, refrigerators and deepfreezes. A cold water utility might also be cost effective if we had an iceberg in the harbor. Neil

Our solar hot water heater provides hot water almost independently of the electricity supply, even during the winter. Of course, I live a bit closer to the Equator than most people on this forum.

On one occasion when the power went out for a day, we still had reasonably warm tap water.

Please comment, refute and/or embellish. Neil