Hi Trevor,
Those claims of super efficient PV panels at this moment are just snake oil salesmen trying to gleen $$$ out of unwise investors.
To give you an example of what it costs to a fully RE house going
1. Soler panels 14 kanela thin film @ 65watts $6500
2. one mppt the top of the range @ $2500
3. The batterybank 12 2 volt 600 amp/hr sonnenscheins @ $11,000
4. Selectronics SA32 inverter @ $4500
As you can see it aint cheap to get into RE but my system has been going now for close to 5 years. So For the blokes on the grid cost out your bills over the last 5 and next 5 years as my investment in RE will I reckon pay off cheap than living on a crappy over-charged prone to cutout grid anyday. Oh and by the way I'm in Oz.
Cheers Bryan