Depends on what you call free. Energy-wise, nothing is free. You can only get what you pay for (1st law of thermo). Actually, you generally get less (2nd law of thermo).
Money-wise, if you wanted, you could hook up a generator to an exercise bike or a hamster wheel to get free electricity for something you’d be doing anyway or put solar cells or a windmill on the roof to harness the sunlight that would be shining anyway or wind that would be blowing anyway.
just wondering if this would be a good investment as we have many power outages in my area
I have a Generac 5500XL portable generator for backup power supply. During an outage it has to be wheeled outside and connected to the transfer panel. I’ve been very pleased with its operation and reliability.
If your plan is to have an automatic start and transfer system you should shop around a bit more, compare prices, features, and reliability. Fuel source is a major consideration.
Read through my home generator page for other ideas.
http://members.rennlist.org/warren/generator.html