Running electric

I'm working on building a house along with ashop on some vacant ground I bought a few years back. Buildings will be located nearly 600 feet from the road where the closest pole is. I have to buy the two transformers needed for the distance, all but the first 100 feet of the wire. Local electric company quoted me the following for a 200 AMP main.

20-26 dollar a foot for labor(20 per ft if I dig the trench and bury it myself) plus 6-8 dollars per foot wire cost. 260 each for the transformers, 1000 dollar sign up fee. Total estimate ranges between 16,600 to 21,240 plus taxes and local fees (about another 2-3k on top of those figures).

So a coworker who happens to be one of the electrical engineers I work for, suggested looking at solar/wind power. I called around the last two days and got estimates. Based on the square footage of the house plan plus the shop, heated and AC at using about 1800 KWH average per month with a 20% buffer figured in. I can get a solar system installed on the house/shop, that nets an average of 2100 KWH with a 4 hour minimum of full sun. Comes with a battery bank system as well as hook ups for both generator and standard electric grid. All for the installed price of 18,900, and includes a 30 year warranty on panels and 20 year warranty on batteries.

Now I'm not looking at being green or "off the grid" but is there any cons to going solar other than the obvious of cloudy days? Can i run a welder occasionally with solar or would it just be too much load? Anyone running a solar power system?