Soils can be sandy, soft, rocky, or clay, depending on altitude, water table, and environment. Solar installers have to contend with many unique soil requirements when working on ground installation projects.

Three of the most common solar ground installation solutions - piling, ground screws, concrete ballast.

Piling

There are two types of solar piling systems: C-type piles and U-type piles, which are directly pushed into the soil by a pile driver. The shelves are then attached to the exposed beams. Beams can be installed in clay, black and sandy soils and work best where there are no rocks. The friction of the soil keeps the pile in place.

Ground screws

Solar ground screw systems are the most common ground mount option for solar systems. Ground screws are suitable for a variety of soils, depending on how they are designed to fit where the project is installed. On looser sites, longer or wider ground screws can be used compared to rock sites. We can adapt to these different soil conditions through the design of the ground screw itself. A set of brackets can be attached to ground screws of various lengths, keeping the panels level while accommodating different terrains.

Concrete ballast

The Solar Concrete Ballast System is a non-penetrating solar base solution. The shelves are attached directly to the foundation, block or basket, and the concrete is often used as a weight to hold it in place. Concrete is either precast, where the posts are installed on blocks brought to the site; or the concrete is poured into pots and cured in situ around the posts. Deciding which specific solution to use depends on site conditions, operating costs and system size. Ballast systems are often used on volatile sites such as landfills, brownfields and superfunds where the soil is impenetrable due to potential contamination.
Cast-in-place concrete solutions are ideal for projects where labor costs are low and heavy equipment is easy to use.

Whether the soil is sandy, rocky, loose, dense or corrosive, there is a market for solar installation products designed to meet the needs of most jobsite installers.