For a long term solution, I think you should definitely consider Solar generators. They are more portable and no noise options. They can be expensive depending how much battery storage you want to have. The good thing is that they are modular so you can add more battery power later.
During extreme emergencies you will definitely lessen and monitor your consumption so you can make your power last.
After moving to our condo on Molokai, the solar generators were really the only practical choice but after using it a few years, I really would have chose the same option if I still lived in Wisconsin. They are expensive compared to gas or diesel but they definitely have some positives also.
With my usage I went with a 2200 watt inverter with 2400 watt surge and 8.2 KW of battery storage. My electric usage is very minimal compared to most. With no power conservation, this amount a power would last a few days all by itself. While conserving power, it would last over a week.
I also have three 200 watt solar panels so I old really go an unlimited amount of time as long as I have sun and I don't have an issue with that here.
We lose power often here in Molokai, usually four to six times a year and we average outages from 2 to 12 hours. I was going to hook mine up to my breaker box but decided against it. I ended out setting up two extension cords along the wall along the refrigerator. Those two cords power most everything in the condo, the refrigerator, lights, router and the TV. I have one more extension cord I use for longer outages that I use to power the microwave or airfryer.
Our power usage is low because our hot water heater is gas and is association owned for the whole building. Washer and dryer are also owned by the association for the whole building. Our stove/oven is also gas. That leaves us with the microwave and airfryer as the largest power draws and those are used very little or not at all during emergencies. The refrigerator is next and our solar generator can run that for about a week without any recharging. TV and router are luxuries that we also wouldn't have to run. Lights are LED's and require little power plus we have portable rechargeable lights ready also.
With the extension cords already set up, I. An easily have everything hooked up and running in about three minutes. The only things I can't run because I don't have the solar generator hooked up to the breaker box is our dishwasher and a couple lights. That's why I can't justify the expense to add that hookup.
I paid just over $6,000 for my setup and that includes a hefty cost for shipping to Molokai. We use this a lot and it's made live much more comfortable for us. Because I can connect everything so fast, we even use it for shorter outages. Of course it can be hard to tell how long the outages will be. Being able to use the wifi helps for that since we can see island updates online.
All the options for power aren't cheap so check into all the features cost and how you will handle having fuel for whichever generator you choose. I usually just recharge mine from the grid when the power comes back on. I can get back to full charge of 8KW in no more than 3 hours. In a longer emergency situation it would take àbout 10 hours with just the solar panels.
My whole unit is modular but the batteries are heavy 80 pounds each and the inverter also has a battery but it's only 60 pounds. I keep the whole unit next to our refrigerator on a roller dolly.
Every time we use ours, my wife always says how glad she is to have it and how it was a fantastic purchase.
