Ground solar mounting
Discussion
About to start a project at house including installation of 22 solar panels ground mounted . Fairly happily about the frame work to mount the solar panels on. Less so on the quickest , easiest and best foundation for the ground solar frame.
Area ground mount is going is around 100m from the house. Trying to work out if frame anchored 10 concete foundation pads of a level base of type 1 would be sufficient and if so what size or weight of pads. Or do i have to dig down , shutter and mix and pour concrete foundations,
Which would not be fun in 2 degrees in cold wet Scotland .
Want it to be strong and last but also quick, cost effective and easy . Excuse AI photos but will give an idea what i am looking to achieve
Area ground mount is going is around 100m from the house. Trying to work out if frame anchored 10 concete foundation pads of a level base of type 1 would be sufficient and if so what size or weight of pads. Or do i have to dig down , shutter and mix and pour concrete foundations,
Which would not be fun in 2 degrees in cold wet Scotland .
Want it to be strong and last but also quick, cost effective and easy . Excuse AI photos but will give an idea what i am looking to achieve
(Don't bother reading if you want factual replies.)
Colour me envious. Wish I had the space to not make my back garden look like a mini solar farm.
I think the key bit is to make it so it doesn't turn into a giant expensive sail that inserts itself into your home when you get hit by a 100mph wind. Maybe that helps, maybe it doesn't.
Colour me envious. Wish I had the space to not make my back garden look like a mini solar farm.
I think the key bit is to make it so it doesn't turn into a giant expensive sail that inserts itself into your home when you get hit by a 100mph wind. Maybe that helps, maybe it doesn't.
Wood is always going to rot. Even Amazon do metal frames, these are £57 for 2 sets. There are much better ones around from specialist companies.
Would be quicker to dig 2 straight footings, along the front and back of the panels, rather than multiple single ones. Then bolt a galvanised length of metal down the entire length of the footing for the frames to then secure to.
I’d guess that would be less likely to blow away in a storm as the footing is continuous and heavier.
Would be quicker to dig 2 straight footings, along the front and back of the panels, rather than multiple single ones. Then bolt a galvanised length of metal down the entire length of the footing for the frames to then secure to.
I’d guess that would be less likely to blow away in a storm as the footing is continuous and heavier.
“ Would be quicker to dig 2 straight footings, along the front and back of the panels, rather than multiple single ones” that’s a good idea, as easy enough to hire and get a small excavator into that area of the garden from the field . Would just then be th issue of the concrete for the foundations ? Happy to do metal frame it quicker, cheaper and easier , as visually makes no odds as we can’t see that area of the garde from main garden , house or road
The wooden frame looks properly solid OP but maybe is more than you need it to be ? I've got ground mount panels, the frames we are using are defined for a flat roof. Works well in our application because we didn't want the height as they would have been obtrusive from our garden. They are weighted with paving slabs.
egoold said:
About to start a project at house including installation of 22 solar panels ground mounted . Fairly happily about the frame work to mount the solar panels on. Less so on the quickest , easiest and best foundation for the ground solar frame.
I think you're mad doing this in wood. The cost and weight will be huge, and it looks like it's all going to be bespoke.Use something off the shelf like this, surely? https://www.windandsun.co.uk/products/solarport-2-...
^ great link
got me thinking aesthetics fro a rural setup I will soon do
https://www.windandsun.co.uk/products/eurener-mepv...
got me thinking aesthetics fro a rural setup I will soon do
https://www.windandsun.co.uk/products/eurener-mepv...
I'd suggest bearing in mind that the ground may move a bit over time, over 11 metres?
Also, seems a waste not to make some use of the shelter under the panels. Which might shape my opinion on the bracing and all that?
Also how hard you want to try to keep the gaps between panels sealed or have something to avoid water dripping between the two rows?
You might at least want a gutter to collect the rain?
Also, seems a waste not to make some use of the shelter under the panels. Which might shape my opinion on the bracing and all that?
Also how hard you want to try to keep the gaps between panels sealed or have something to avoid water dripping between the two rows?
You might at least want a gutter to collect the rain?
I've got solar panels in one of my fields about 70m from the house. The council kicked off about digging and foundations (and a load of other things - lights, newts, trees, river pollution). So I moved to a mounting system for flat roofs. One suggestion that I did, over size the cable. 100m is a pig to dig up and replace cable when you get better panels in 5 or 10 years. I went double size on the cable.
Simon
Simon
Boylston said:
I've got solar panels in one of my fields about 70m from the house. The council kicked off about digging and foundations (and a load of other things - lights, newts, trees, river pollution). So I moved to a mounting system for flat roofs.
Simon
That looks interesting - although I'm curious about what is actually holding everything in place there? Difficult to see from the photo.Simon
I do think some of the posters are overstating the difficulties involved in pad foundations for something of this relatively modest scale. I dug the holes for my 12m x 6m pole barn in a relaxed couple of hours with a mini digger and mixed the concrete with a cement mixer the same day.
Building the frame out of pressure treated wood to the specs listed (not the picture!) also needn't be that expensive. With a bit of though using standard available timber sizes I think it would be easy to knock up. Although I'm unsure why it needs to be so high in the air unless you're planning on making use of the shelter. Good firewood drying space?!
Snow and Rocks said:
Boylston said:
I've got solar panels in one of my fields about 70m from the house. The council kicked off about digging and foundations (and a load of other things - lights, newts, trees, river pollution). So I moved to a mounting system for flat roofs.
Simon
That looks interesting - although I'm curious about what is actually holding everything in place there? Difficult to see from the photo.Simon
I do think some of the posters are overstating the difficulties involved in pad foundations for something of this relatively modest scale. I dug the holes for my 12m x 6m pole barn in a relaxed couple of hours with a mini digger and mixed the concrete with a cement mixer the same day.
Building the frame out of pressure treated wood to the specs listed (not the picture!) also needn't be that expensive. With a bit of though using standard available timber sizes I think it would be easy to knock up. Although I'm unsure why it needs to be so high in the air unless you're planning on making use of the shelter. Good firewood drying space?!
About to do the same in Scotland. Ground prep done, Type 2 down, conduits laid (10 metres from Outbuilding).
Frame will come pre assembled and the consensus is to use either a c pile or screw ground anchors - https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/pdfs/solarport-2-.... We have heavy clay soil.
Panels are bi-facial, so will top the Type 2 with the most reflective gravel we can find.
Frame will come pre assembled and the consensus is to use either a c pile or screw ground anchors - https://midsummerwholesale.co.uk/pdfs/solarport-2-.... We have heavy clay soil.
Panels are bi-facial, so will top the Type 2 with the most reflective gravel we can find.
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