This feels like a weird point to make when solar power is as popular and growing as it is.
Localized power generation is not only here now, we already have programs to tie your localized power generation into the existing power grid and you get paid for it. I don't see how this system couldn't work the same way.
There's way too much human labour involved in getting someone to drive to your house, climb onto your roof and bolt panels to it. In that time, that same worker could set up a dozen similarly-sized panels when building out a utility solar farm.
And yes, if your time is worthless, and you don't value your neck, you could DIY, and save on some of those costs.
... But you'd still be tied to the grid (and paying grid fees), unless you are ready to invest $XY,000 for a massive battery bank... That might still leave you without electricity during a period of low generation/high consumption.
At some point I'm going to pay someone to come out re-shingle my roof anyway.
This is such a cop out. How I spend my time is up to me. If it's a DIY weekend project being worked on a weekend that I had no other plans, then it's not really a cost to me. Sure, professionally, I have my hourly rate that determines my "worth". However, I do not get to bill those hours 24/7/365. Even playing along with your premise, if I'm playing weekend electrician, I'm not a master electrician making the same rates as my other job so a 1:1 correlation is just a lame argument.
I'm setting aside the "when you die" part, but acknowleding its presence.
However, the new owners get a small tear and a tune from the world's tiniest violin. They know the panels are there when they buy the house. It's not a surprise at closing. If they decide to buy the house with that knowledge, then that's on them, their realtor, their inspector, etc. It's like saying someone that buys a full size truck and complains they didn't know the expense of fuel.
Where do you put the solar farm?
[1] 2 billion 'single-family' homes, 800 square feet of roof/average [2], ~50,000 square miles of roof space. Total land area of the Earth is 57 million square miles. You can take your pick of which 50,000 of it can be used for utility solar...
[2] This is a large over-estimate, reality is much smaller than that.
Low generation can be solved with an inexpensive gas generator for use in emergencies the likes of which might see three days use in a year.
You still need all of that if you put all the batteries together in a warehouse, not if you put them in each person's basement.
Again, economies of scale.
Tesla Powerwall 2 appears to be <5 cubic feet. That doesn't seem like a lot.
Funny (ironic?) thing about most the significant residential solar installations in my hood; they exist because they're grid-tied and generate revenue for the households.
If there were no grid for these homeowners to sell their excess power to, they wouldn't have bothered with installing and maintaining solar panels. It's not like there's zero risk involved, hell just having thousands of dollars of solar panels sitting on your roof alone is a big fat sign announcing "well-heeled folks reside here, break-in and pillage when absent". Not exactly the greatest thing to broadcast in the predominately low-income desert regions solar is most applicable to.
Also, the vast majority of houses can’t sustain their energy use off of rooftop solar alone.
Other forms of energy, perhaps with the exception of wind power, do not work like that.