Solar anything is not being subsidized as much as it was. Actually, in most cities solar will not work unless tied into the electric company. Big utilities have clout.
The issue, there, is that most properties just don't have nearly enough area to collect enough solar energy to meet their needs. It's just not a realistic option for most to depend entirely on solar energy to meet one's electrical needs. The usual arrangement, then, is a grid-tie system, where one collects solar power, and by so doing, reduces the amount of power that one must buy from the utility. In many cases, if, at any given time one is using less energy than one's solar power system is collecting, one “sells” the excess to the utility, to be credited against power that they later use from the utility when their solar power system is collecting less than they need.
If you have enough land, you can set up a truly standalone solar power system. It needs to be big enough, not just to meet your immediate needs while the Sun is shining, but to collect enough excess power during that time, to be stored in batteries, and used when the Sun isn't shining. With that kind of system, you don't need the utility.