Problem with rural is it's often served by small co-ops that can opt out of energy efficiency laws like Net Metering requirements, etc. Or just basically ignore you.
While codes and permitting can be a hassle, it can be done right. Sometimes sucky people get promoted up or get jobs in this spots that most consumers don't encounter and your stuck - they often have a quid pro quo with the service industry to not threaten their own job.
Of course they want panels up to snuff so they don't blow off the roof and take heads off, or electrocute the fireman when responding to a call. We had a fireman die in a blaze recently as some idiot put a large gap in a drywall remodel around the entire home perimeter, which made a nice big hidden chute for the fire to spread all around, then take out the floor joist supports and bring the whole floor down on a crew.
My last rural area allowed almost nothing via the electric company. Their grid tie rules were based on large services and you had to have 3 phase service, pay for the whole upgrade, and a meter that took PF into account (not too big a deal in most cases). Then they would only pay their market cost rate, about a penny or two per KwH for excess and they still charged you for line transportation, which was higher than the electric cost, so it always cost you money to generate excess.
I hooked up a small system and nobody ever questioned as I knew no one would even recognize it; I sized it to never go bigger than my phantom load.
My latest rural area is interesting. They had a long history of union involvement and have few codes or enforcement but permitting required for everything and only for approved contractors that are all union. It's part business and part laziness, ie one guy just trusts the other guy so they don't have to do any real work.
Even the electric co kept asking which union firm I was using for a panel upgrade. I finally just put down the name of the largest repair shop in town, and everyone was happy but they never verified it. They wouldn't come out until I gave them a name.
When they showed up to hook up, they asked where so and so was, I told them they didn't show so I did it myself and the guy kinda paused, and then smiled and said 'I thought this looked better than usual'
He noted I used some higher end components and thought maybe the
I did hear him call it in the back in the truck, to make sure it was ok. I wondered what would have happen if I sent my girlfriend out to pose as me and have her claim she did it, would he just lose his ****, think he was on candid camera, hehe!
The electric co is supposed to allow small scale solar and net metering, but they have pretty much black listed just about the entire service area as not compatible and dangerous for the grid. They only green light a few main business avenues. You start the process by paying one of their engineers the hourly rate to determine what you can and can't do. They also had a separate 2-way meter service charge that would eliminate any money you could possibly save unless you were running a walmart.
There are a lot of solar thermal collectors around I've noticed, probably because electric is a no-no.