School me on going solar

Pay a few extra bucks and spring for the fusion reactor.

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lunar panels are much cheaper

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Technically lunar panels are solar panels.

First, check with your homeowners insurance and make sure they will cover after installation, I know some will not

It depends on your state and what tax incentives there are for each option. It doesn't make a lot of sense in Louisiana now due to a lot of the incentives being cut.
Buying is the better long term option, but you need to get with your local utility company to ask if they buy back any unused electricity. You should also ask if there's any taxes on the storage option you need, typically it will be a net meter if you lease or you may need to purchase your own storage battery with the purchase of the array.
If you're looking at a Power Purchase Agreement, you need to find out your kilowatt hour price through your current utility company. To calculate your kilowatt hour price, divide the total of your bill by the amount of kilowatt hours you used (taxes and bullshite charges included). After calculating your price per kilowatt hour, compare that to what the PPA price is.
Leasing and buying will basically just depend on if your monthly payment will be lower than your average electricity bill, and will still provide enough electricity to power your home. Just don't get sold any bullshite.
Questions you need to ask your representative are; what amount of electricity is the system projected to produce, what are the current state and national tax incentives, will it add value to your resale (most likely), will the system depreciate in production over time (yes), and get the details on the system warranty.

shite. If it's that complicated I'll just destroy the planet

That's not true at all. When your system is installed, there's a cut-off switch installed right next to your breaker box. Also, a lot of fire departments that haven't had proper training regarding the panels because it's relatively new in popularity. It mostly stems from not wanting to be held responsible for the damage. Do you honestly think they'd just stand there and let your house burn down? Think about that for a second.

I checked into it a few years back and by my calculations, the payback period was too long for me to be comfortable with...I didn't think I would recoup my money before stuff started breaking...

now that the state incentives are no longer there, I can't see how it could possibly work from a financial standpoint...

Touché. Glad firefighters are being trained on them now. I worked in solar on the east coast for a couple years and most departments out there had no idea how any of it worked.