Today’s advanced solar energy systems generate continuously renewable power for homes, businesses, farms, hospitals, government operations, and many other electricity users. Solar panels are usually mounted either on the ground or rooftop. Ground-mounted solar panels offer a number of advantages for various kinds of use, and they can be placed in any area of a yard or farm field that receives sunlight during most daytime hours.
For information about ground-mounted or rooftop solar panels and designing the most efficient system for your specific needs, call Solarise Solar.
Here is some information about ground-mounted solar panels, to help you determine if this green energy system is best for your needs.
What is a Ground Mounted Solar Panel?
Ground mounted solar panels are photovoltaic systems installed on the ground rather than on rooftops. Unlike traditional roof-mounted systems, these panels are mounted on racks designed for open spaces, allowing for optimal positioning and angle adjustment. This method offers increased flexibility in placement, ensuring your solar panel system receives maximum sunlight—resulting in improved energy production and easier maintenance.
Comparing Roof Mount to Ground Mount Solar Panels
Choosing the right solar installation depends on your property’s unique features. Here’s a quick comparison:
- Ground Mounted Solar Panels:
- Pros: Better efficiency, customizable orientation, easier maintenance.
- Ideal for: Homes with sufficient land, businesses, and agricultural operations.
- Roof Mounted Solar Panels:
- Pros: Utilizes existing roof space, less visual impact.
- Ideal for: Properties with limited ground space or where roof conditions are ideal for installation.
At Solarise Solar, our experts will assess your property to determine the best option for maximum performance and savings.
Installation Process & Maintenance Tips
Our streamlined installation process ensures a hassle-free experience:
- Site Assessment: We evaluate your property to determine the optimal layout and system size.
- Customized Design: Your solar panel system is tailored to your energy needs and budget.
- Professional Installation: Our experienced technicians install your system with precision and care.
- Ongoing Support: We offer maintenance tips and support to ensure your system runs efficiently for years to come.
Remember, every installation includes a 30-year manufacturer warranty, ensuring peace of mind and long-term performance.
Cost, Incentives, and ROI
Understanding the financial aspect is key:
- Transparent Pricing: We provide detailed cost breakdowns so you know exactly what to expect.
- Incentives: Take advantage of state and federal tax credits, rebates, and financing options designed to lower upfront costs.
- ROI: Our systems are designed to maximize energy production, ensuring you see real savings on your energy bills over time.
The Benefits of Ground-Mounted Solar Panels
After the initial investment in high-output solar panels, the equipment generates electrical energy for any needs at low cost and requires little if any maintenance throughout the life of the system. Ground mount panels are as effective and in some cases more effective than rooftop panels. Ground mount solar panels offer added benefits for many kinds of residential, business, industrial, agricultural, and other applications.
Switching to ground mounted solar panels comes with numerous advantages:
Improved Efficiency & Performance
- Optimal Sunlight Exposure: Adjust the angle and orientation for maximum energy capture.
- Reduced Shading: With panels placed away from obstructions, your system operates at peak efficiency.
Flexibility & Design Options
- Customizable Layouts: Perfect for properties with ample land space, allowing you to design a system that fits your unique energy needs.
- Ease of Access: Maintenance and upgrades are simpler without the constraints of roof access.
Financial Savings & Incentives
- Lower Energy Bills: Enjoy substantial savings on your monthly electricity costs.
- Incentives & Financing: Benefit from tax incentives, government rebates, and flexible financing options that make solar installation more affordable.
- Strong ROI: A well-designed ground mounted system can offer an attractive return on investment over its lifetime.
Ground Mount Solar Panels for Residential Properties
Homes with solar energy systems can potentially obtain up to 100 percent of their electricity from their residential solar panels, according to some industry estimates. Still, sometimes families with solar panels on the roofs of their homes discover that they use more electricity than their solar energy systems can deliver. Often, there is no room on the roof to add panels. Ground mount systems solve this issue and provide other superior benefits.
- Increased airflow below ground mount solar panels has a cooling effect, which promotes more efficient production of energy than panels mounted closely to roof surfaces.
- Residential ground mounted solar systems enable the expansion of a home’s existing solar energy system.
- If part or all of a home’s roof is not oriented at angles for maximizing the sun exposure for solar panels, the panels may be capturing much less energy from the sun to convert to electricity.
- Ground mount solar panels, which also include a metal pole mount or a metal frame mount for the solar panels, can be equipped with tracking technology, to have them move along with the sun throughout the day.
- Ground level mounted panels eliminate concerns about the need to remove solar panels from the roof or have people try to work around panels to perform roof maintenance, repairs, or eventual replacement.
Ground Mounted Solar Panels for Commercial Businesses
Using green energy is good for business. Solar energy systems save cost. Businesses may also qualify for rebates, tax credits, and other green-energy incentives. Many businesses with empty lots or unused ground space use ground mount solar panels. Properly installed, high-quality ground-mounted commercial solar panels transform a company into an up-to-date, environmentally-conscious operation. That profile enhances marketability and can increase profit margin. Ground mount panels may offer additional benefits:
- Ground mount solar panels provide an option when no roof space is available.
- Solar energy systems are enhancements that add value to commercial properties.
- Almost any vacant area of the property can be transformed into an energy-production asset.
- Generating solar energy to cut costs is a way to turn unused areas of commercial real estate into highly useful, profitable parts of the business.
- In many cases, ground-mounted solar panels can be installed over parking lots, for dual purpose of producing energy and shading parked cars.
- Ground mounted solar panels are exceptional marketing tools that reflect the excellent character of a brand that is sensitive to its audience’s interests.
Agricultural Operations
Farms, of course, need large amounts of power in a steady supply. Operations with unused areas of land have enough space to install a ground mount solar panels. A ground mounted array of solar panels can:
- Generate clean power that is reliable anywhere where there is sunshine.
- Eliminate some of the expenses and inconveniences of using diesel, propane, and kerosene.
- Reduce energy costs for farming operations.
- Produce usable energy for lighting and heating water and buildings and greenhouses.
- Cause much less negative impact to the environment.
- Provide energy for pumping water, running conveyors, operating dryers, electric fences, etc.
Businesses and Government Entities
Ground mounted solar panels can serve well in environments with large energy consumption needs. Industrial facilities, Apartment buildings, Subdivisions with HOAs, Hospitals, Government complexes, Schools, and many other property usage types are well served by this form of green energy production. Just some of the benefits from solar energy use these organizations could realize include the following:
- Major electrical power users can save large amounts on energy costs.
- Large collectives of users can realize enormous reductions in pressure on the energy grid.
- When organizations go solar, they significantly reduce harmful emissions.
- They elevate their image as a socially and environmentally conscious organization.
- They set an example of economically responsible organizational leadership.
- The leadership builds community confidence in the organization’s commitment to positive social and environmental impact.
For a detailed cost/benefit analysis and projected rate of return on your solar energy investment, contact Solarise to discuss your needs with a commercial solar energy system specialist.
Considerations Before Buying Ground Mount Solar Panels
Some businesses and homeowners want to buy solar panels as soon as possible, and they may overlook important considerations to be addressed before moving forward with installation. Here are some fundamental things you can do to help ensure optimum performance over the expected life span of your solar energy system.
- Solar energy panels vary in output capacity. Research the differences between high-quality solar energy products and lesser-quality alternatives. Investing in quality equipment avoids unnecessary repair and solar panel maintenance costs later.
- Be aware of the best solar panel company for the kind of installation plan you need and others. Either product performance or installation quality can have a positive or negative effect on your business.
- Make sure that ground mounted solar panel systems are installed in areas with low foot traffic.
- Have a comprehensive site analysis, including a feasibility report of all equipment, installation, and any other cost of solar energy system purchase and installation.
- Get answers on site selection and preparation, maintaining access, the number of panels needed, how solar energy production works, how metering works, who to contact at the electric company, and other frequently asked questions about ground mount solar panel systems.
- Work only with a well-established and highly reputable seller and installer, who can provide an abundance of reputable references. Choose a solar energy expert with knowledge of all applicable solutions and extensive solar energy systems experience. This can help you avoid loss of profits and the need to make additional investments later.
- There are substantial tax credits and rebates for purchases of solar panel systems after you install your solar energy system, but keep in mind that these incentives are decreasing each year.
If you want to convert to green operations, ground-mount solar panels are just one of the excellent options available to you. Start your selection process by having a comprehensive site analysis and a benefits evaluation. Those assessments will help in determining which solar energy system and/or other means of green energy production makes the best sense for your property and the range of ways you use it.
Solarise Solar, Colorado Springs, CO
We configure and install high-efficiency solar panels in both roof and ground-mounted solar energy systems for a vast range of residential, commercial, and industrial applications. The PV products we provide are among the most durable and efficient available today. We will provide you with expert consultation, to help you determine the best solar energy system for your specific needs and budget.
Our team of installation specialists has extensive experience and is fully committed to our industry’s highest standards for safety, transparency, workmanship, and professionalism. We also understand the importance of communicating clearly, and we keep our commitments.
Just a few of the benefits we offer our customers include:
- Zero up-front investment, low-interest financing
- Solar energy system monitoring
- 30-year Warranty on solar panels
Solarise Solar has built an outstanding reputation in our region by helping our southern Colorado customers obtain the best possible product quality and pricing, and consistently delivering exceptional quality solar energy systems installation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ground Mounted Solar Panels
One advantage of ground-mount solar panels is that you’re free to install them at nearly any location where you can dedicate some space for them to operate.
- Sufficient sunlight — Ground-mount solar panels can be placed virtually any place on your property where there is enough unshaded space to receive abundant sunlight.
- Large enough area — The space you need for your solar panels depends upon the size of the system you need in order to produce the amount of usable energy to meet the objectives you choose for it. Typically, homes with electricity bills of around $120/month, for example, require a solar energy system of about 10 kW. That requires approximately 624 square feet (0.014 acres).
- Low foot traffic — Choose an area for solar panel installation that is away from high foot traffic areas, such as close to the exterior of your house, near walkways, driveways, garages, edges of gardens, near entertainment spaces, near children’s play areas, near property lines, etc.
- Distance from utility interconnection — In order to minimize your installation cost and maximize the net productivity of your solar energy system, you may prefer to install your system closer to the interconnection with your utility conduit. This reduces the amount of energy lost in traveling a long distance to that connection.
Preparing for the installation of your new solar energy system can be unnecessarily confusing and time-consuming, or it can be made ideally easy for you. Work only with a reputable installer who provides the full range of services for solar energy systems. The best solar panel company will manage all aspects of the project, including all paperwork, and will advise you thoroughly and accurately throughout the process.
When working with your area’s best solar energy company, to buy solar panels and prepare for installation, all you should need to do is:
- Decide how much electricity you want your system to produce.
- Think about where you prefer to have your system installed.
- Take advantage of available tax credits, utility rebates, and other solar incentives.
- Decide whether you want a battery storage system.
- Be aware of local regulations regarding solar panel installation.
- If you choose to have a rooftop installation, be sure your roof is prepared in advance for the additional weight load.
- Make sure the area where installers need to walk and work is clear and easy to access.
Today’s high-efficiency solar panels normally do not require much maintenance. With minimal cleaning once or twice per year to keep too much dirt and debris from obstructing sunlight is enough to ensure that panels are producing power optimally. Ground-mounted solar panels are more easily accessible, so they are faster and easier to keep clean, and if you find snow, leaves, or landscape debris on the panels, you can just use a broom to gently sweep it off.
Commercial or residential solar panels are part of a complete solar energy system. Each system is uniquely designed, based on the particular needs for use on the property, and on the owner’s budget and power production goals for the system. Both ground-mount solar panels and roof-top PV arrays range in size, from standard residential or commercial solar energy systems to specialized structures configured to meet individual specifications. Generally speaking, a standard residential solar energy system consists of a set of core components including:
- Solar panels, inverters, DC/AC disconnects, meters, mounts, racks, and wiring. Systems limited to these basic components are typically tied to the public power supply grid.
- Some solar energy systems require additional components for expanded functionality in off-grid systems. Such added equipment can include batteries, charge controllers, and other items.
Ground-mounted solar panels offer several advantages over roof-mounted systems. They allow for optimal orientation and tilt adjustments to capture maximum sunlight, which can boost energy production. Additionally, these systems are easier to maintain and less affected by roof constraints or shading issues. While they require available ground space, many Colorado homeowners find that the enhanced efficiency and flexibility make them a superior option.
The overall cost of ground-mounted solar panels can be slightly higher than roof-mounted systems due to additional components like mounting racks and site preparation. However, the improved energy capture and flexibility often lead to a faster return on investment. Moreover, available tax incentives, rebates, and financing options help offset any extra initial expense, making the investment in solar energy highly attractive.
Contact Solarise Solar for More Information on Ground Mounted Solar Panel Installation
The southwestern region of the United States is one of the world’s most ideal environments for the utilization of our great natural resource of a dependable abundance of solar energy all year long. We’re here to help you start tapping into that extraordinary renewable energy resource.
How Much Do Ground-Mounted Solar Panels Cost
For a quote on ground mounted solar panes or for more information about ground-mounted solar panel systems and designing the most efficient system for your specific needs, contact Solarise Solar in Colorado Springs.
Call Solarise Solar to Schedule a Free Solar Evaluation for Ground Mounted Solar Panel Installation Near Colorado Springs.
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