Solar - Anyone done panels on posts away from the house?

[Pablo]

Just curious, probably won't be in this house long enough to make it worth while, but still....exploring..........

Say 200 feet away, upslope before the tree line. Panels (how many?), underground wiring (???), main panel in slabbed garage...........lots of "moving" parts.


Is there a good resource for evaluating?

Should I just get a quote or three?

 

[wpod]

Buying your electricity in advance?

 

[Snagglefoot]

Generally 6 panels if it’s a “tree”or else you can have a “fence” two panels high. I wouldn’t bother with tracking equipment. Keep the capital as cheap as possible.

 

[JeffKeryk]

@Pablo is I had it to do over again I would use Costco Sunrun. At least talk to them. I got a great deal, but the company is outta business. I think NEM3 killed them.

 

[UncleDave]

Just curious, probably won't be in this house long enough to make it worth while, but still....exploring..........

Say 200 feet away, upslope before the tree line. Panels (how many?), underground wiring (???), main panel in slabbed garage...........lots of "moving" parts.


Is there a good resource for evaluating?

Should I just get a quote or three?

Get three quotes and ask for local references from each.

You'll be forced onto a specific plan with your power company.

A proper quote will look at angles and incidence, and provide an estimate of yearly and monthly productivity. Dig up your final bill for last year and find out what you used in total and go backwards from there in your planning.

You will likely be limited in how big you can go based on last years bills - like say 120% of what you used.

 

[Pablo]

So far responses read like this:

"You're looking for a ground mount array. Unfortunately we're not doing ground mount installs at this time. I can make a note to let you know if that changes but our focus right now is installing on existing structures."

Translated: Expensive, not much profit for us, low volume, harder work.

 

[thastinger]

So far responses read like this:


Translated: Expensive, not much profit for us, low volume, harder work.

That is exactly right. There are several advantages to a ground mount array but I would only do a ground mount if I were going to live there forever as you will never recoup the cost if you pay a company to install all of the infrastructure necessary for a ground mount.

On the flip side, if you are good with post hole diggers, there are several good utube vids on how to install a ground mount. Self installed ground mount can be pretty inexpensive really as you can use HD ready channel to mount the panels vs the commercial roof racking.
Many people don't know this, but the racking costs as much as the panels on a roof mount.

 

[oil pan 4]

Just curious, probably won't be in this house long enough to make it worth while, but still....exploring..........

Say 200 feet away, upslope before the tree line. Panels (how many?), underground wiring (???), main panel in slabbed garage...........lots of "moving" parts.


Is there a good resource for evaluating?

Should I just get a quote or three?

Moving parts are bad.

So far responses read like this:

"You're looking for a ground mount array. Unfortunately we're not doing ground mount installs at this time. I can make a note to let you know if that changes but our focus right now is installing on existing structures."

Translated: Expensive, not much profit for us, low volume, harder work.

More labor and more liability with all that digging. Dollars for watts roof top is the cheapest way to go. Unless you need a new roof too.

 

[oil pan 4]

@Pablo is I had it to do over again I would use Costco Sunrun. At least talk to them. I got a great deal, but the company is outta business. I think NEM3 killed them.

The company I used had been around for 18 years then 2020 hit and they just gave up on customer service.
Now im replacing panels smashed by hail my self. I got used utility grade extreme weather panels from santan solar in AZ. They have 1mm thicker glass and weigh 10lb per panel more than what got smashed. They're used so they cost like $60 each.
Insurance paid me nearly $10,000 for the damage, I'm in it for less than $900 and I got several spare panels.

 

[dogememe]

I’ve always thought that made more sense than roof top if you had the space.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I’ve always thought that made more sense than roof top if you had the space.

For sure. A lot of Bitoggers live on large rural properties but space in the city is at a premium.

 

[oil pan 4]

For sure. A lot of Bitoggers live on large rural properties but space in the city is at a premium.

I have 17 acres and still put them on my roof.

 

[Pablo]

I have 17 acres and still put them on my roof.

Because cost?

 

[oil pan 4]

Because cost?

Yeah it's cheaper. Weeds won't grow up and block them. Mice are almost guaranteed to not chew on the wires with them being 10ft above ground. Goats won't eat the wires. A grass fire won't get them.
Roof top makes them a little bit harder to clean.

 

[JHZR2]

Because cost?

I’d suspect you want to minimize the copper runs or else remote installs (without step up/down xfmr) start to create losses. Better to feed right into panel at point of use.

That said, for folks who have mature trees, hip roofs with dormers, or just want small systems, this would be ideal.

 

[JHZR2]

So far responses read like this:

"You're looking for a ground mount array. Unfortunately we're not doing ground mount installs at this time. I can make a note to let you know if that changes but our focus right now is installing on existing structures."

Translated: Expensive, not much profit for us, low volume, harder work.

A lot of solar installers are extensions of roofing installers. And roofers are some of the bigggest thieves besides HVAC companies.

I’ve said before that because of our roof design and trees, we can’t get a huge system that would be right to break even. But I don’t care about breaking even per se. I wish we could get microinverter based single panels installed easy and cheap. Microinverters wont grid form or backfeed.

A 1kW system would be good for most everyone, cheap, easy to install on most any roof, etc. But there isn’t enough profit. Enough to offset the refrigerator or whatever.

 

[oil pan 4]

I’d suspect you want to minimize the copper runs or else remote installs (without step up/down xfmr) start to create losses. Better to feed right into panel at point of use.

That said, for folks who have mature trees, hip roofs with dormers, or just want small systems, this would be ideal.

Mines right about 10kw or 30 x 330 watt panels. It's about to be 26 x 330 and 4 x 300 watt panels. I wasn't about to pay hundreds of more dollars per panel to get 30 more watts.