Everything depends on where you live. But for any country more than a few degrees off the equator that's the reality.
> Regarding personal autonomy, I wouldn't treat it as this binary thing.
That's fair, but 'personal autonomy' for 70% of the year and utterly dependent on existing infrastructure and fossil fuels for the remainder is still bad. But better than 100% dependency, sure.
> If you're survivalist minded, solar is your only hope at any level of independence, even if it's not 24/7 autonomy.
Depends on where you live ;)
Seriously: I engage in engineering, not in satisfying paranoia and 'any level of independence' starts with ruthlessly curbing your energy budget below that which most Western countries' inhabitants would consider acceptable living standards. And even if I personally would be ok with that I don't see how I would make that decision for myself while at the same time not make that decision for those around me who depend on me for their needs. In a vacuum you can make that argument, but IRL people don't live in a vacuum.