We have been enjoying an unusually warm and dry spell although it
is somewhat concerning as we are probably under the average on
rainfall.  No rain in the forecast anytime soon.  The extra sun
has been a boon for our tiny solar setup.  I suspect the battery
capacity has not been very good due to several discharges > 50%
and the fact that they sat idle for more than year before I was
able to get the system going.  Winter is particularly hard on the
batteries as there is significantly less sun in these parts.
This is a dedicated system to power our satellite internet
although I try to use dialup for most of my activity, tasks
such as online banking generally require a broadband connection.
Plugging the rig into the household mains is out of the question
as the equipment generates a tremendous amount of harmonics
(dirty electricity) on the household circuits.

The solution will probably be to add another panel and extra
storage capacity.  I might try to eliminate the inverter
altogether using buck converters to adjust the dc voltage for
each particular component.  This might eliminate some power loss
from the inverter.  It will also help in keeping the harmonics on
the electrical system down to a minimum.

Speaking of the internet, power consumption from the net is
trending up at an alarming rate:

https://tinyurl.com/yb23xhu8i

Although the end of Net neutrality may not necessarily spell the
end of the internet, other economic factors may bring the net to
it's knees:

http://sdf.org/l/109

Maybe not in my lifetime, but it is a distinct possibility in the
decades to come, although I am sure some alternative net comes
into being for the mere mortals.

Trying to squeeze out infinite growth within a finite system is a
fool's errand.  The following is a quotation worth peculating
over:

"We have evolved a culture so heavily dependent upon the
continuance of exponential growth for its stability that it is
incapable of reckoning with problems of non-growth it behooves
us to begin a serious examination of the cultural
adjustments necessary before unmanageable crises arise."

-- M. King Hubbert

Of course long after the human species has been relegated to the
compost heap of history, at least there will be a cherry red
Tesla roadster in orbit about the sun which will serve as an
artifact of our civilization.  --sigh--

There is a ray of hope however.  Sailing cargo ships are poised
to make a comeback:

https://tinyurl.com/ybt76vbo

High tech flavors of low tech transport as I see it.  The following
is a bit dated, but I am sure it is even more relevant now:

https://tinyurl.com/y7dy77pr

Of course modern cargo ships can carry substantially more cargo.
I have not done the math (someone has already penciled it out I'm
sure) so it remains to be seen if the cost per unit of transport
is still cheaper on a modern cargo ship or not.  Maybe not if you
keep having destroyers broad-siding your transport vessels.
Obviously as fuel costs continue to rise, sailing cargo ships (or
some hybrid thereof) will become more the norm than some
historical novelty.

Circling back to the immediate issues, we just had the well shed
rebuilt as it was on the verge of collapsing.  It is time to give
some serious thought about putting the well on solar.  The grid
power, even in our remote area, has been fairly reliable, but
it is probably wise to have a fallback option in the event there
is a protracted outage.  Us folks out in the sticks are not that
high on the priority list when there is a major outage.  It is
not uncommon to have a redwood or other large tree fall over on a
transmission line.