Best Solar Ground Mount for Westport, MA, Home

10.3 kW Ground Mount Array, Westport, MA

When looking to add solar to your property, finding the needed space and best location for power production is vital. Most of the time, this location is on your roof, but often a ground mount system will deliver greater performance without putting holes in your roof. A ground mount array will typically use larger, commercial-grade XL-size modules that are usually a better value than standard, residential size modules. This was the case for one of our customers in Westport, MA.

The property is approximately 40,000 square feet with significant open, unobstructed space facing South. Constructed in the early 1990s, this two-story home's geopositioning, angle, and roof size was not ideal for a roof mount. The customer was interested in installing a Ground Mount Solar Array.

The customer selected 28 SilFab SLG-370 Solar Panels with optimizers and a SolarEdge SE10000-US inverter for their IronRidge Ground Mount. The system will produce 1,149 kWh per month, which is 200% of the customer's actual energy usage.

The property is located in Westport, MA, which averages 32 inches of snow per year. This was taken into account to calculate energy production during the project design. Although not necessary to achieve production, occasional brushing the snow off the solar panels can help maintain optimal solar energy production during winter months.

The Ground Mount Engineering details needed to make the ground mount for this family are as follows. The load assumptions for the Ground Mount are a wind exposure B, 110 mph wind, and a 50 psf Ground Snow Load. The foundation requirements were concrete, with a hole diameter of 20 inches and a minimum hole depth of 48 inches. The substructure required a 2-inch pipe size, and diagonal bracing was not needed for this mount. The foundation is designed to handle 500 lbs of shear load, 1,250 ft-lbs, with a -620 lbs uplift. Substructure materials needed were 203' total piping and 5.17 square yards of concrete. The mounting structure has 9' N-S Pier spacing with 6'2" E-W pier spacing. The solar panels are set at a 20o angle. Increasing the tilt of the array would only achieve modest improvement while increasing the foundation cost and materials.

After incentives, the total System System Cost for this 10.3kW Solar Array was $13,421. With $2,068 per year utility savings, the payback for this solar array is just over six years with a 15% ROI.

Ground Mount Solar Arrays are a great option to consider when the space is available. At SunWatts, we want to Make Solar Simple for you. To help determine if a Solar Ground Mount is right for you, our Solar Consulting and Design Service provides unbiased solar array brand options to support you in finding the best solar array for your needs. Call us at 888-498-3331 or contact us today to go solar!