Ground or pole mount

mmag

i am trying to mount ten trina 295w panels they measure 77x39.2, ten end up being around 12'x16' the spot is a western slope. so to put a ground mount in i would need poles or taller footings on the down hill side, i am wondering is the cost of the pole mount going to end up being similar to a ground mount? are there benefits of either?

peakbagger

Re: Ground or pole mount

Pole mount can be adjusted for tilt angle, it makes a big difference up north, less so down south. The steep tilt also helps a lot with snow covering the panels and keeps the panels above the snow pack. Trade off is a pole mount will be more expensive to build and require more concrete than a fixed ground mount. Pole mounts have to be stiffer as the tend to get thrown around by the wind while ground mounts dont.

NorthGuy

Re: Ground or pole mount

My array is about twice as big as yours. I spent around $2K to build a fixed mount on wooden posts. There's some ground tilt (2 feet accross the array). Wasn't difficult to handle.

It would cost me about $7K to put them on two metal poles.