Ground Mount Systems

Ground Mount Systems for Solar

When you install a solar panel system at home or your working space, you have different mounting ways to choose from. Although you observe that most residential and commercial properties have solar panels installed on their rooftop, that’s not the only means. Besides, that is the only traditional way of placing your solar panels. There are several ways to place and install your solar power systems. Among the methods of installing solar panel systems, the ground mount system is the most common one.

In today’s article, we will explain what a ground mount system is, its cost, benefits, and other important things you should know about it.

What is a Solar Ground Mount System?

Let’s simply put it in a simpler way. From the words “ground” and “mount” a ground mount solar power system is a way of mounting or installing your solar panel system on the ground or any large field near your property rather than installing them at your property’s roof. This type of ground mount system is a good alternative solar solution if you don’t want to place it on top of your house. As long as you have a large yard or field near your place and there is abundant sunlight in your area you can easily have your solar panels installed. Usually, the panels are placed anywhere from a few inches to a few feet off the ground, depending on how your installers set up the racking system.

Types of Ground Mount Systems

The ground-mounted solar system has two main types: standard ground mount and pole mount. The standard one is the same as the pole-mounted ones, the only difference is it is not elevated on poles but rather directly installed on the ground using ground anchors to hold up a racking table. 

A standard mount system is also easier to install as it typically holds the solar array in a fixed position on the ground. Besides, it is a more cost-effective solution for a ground install compared to a pole mount system that usually has tracking systems, resulting in a higher cost per watt. 

Meanwhile, a pole-mounted system acts as a support system to the ground-mounted panels. Since they are elevated on poles, they can easily get maximum sun absorption. Not to mention that they have a monitoring option that allows the solar panels to angle with the sun’s direction.

What Properties are Applicable for Ground Mount Systems?

You can get your solar panels mounted on the ground for your residential or commercial properties as long as you have an open space to place them. Typically, for a residential home, you will need 60-cell solar panels, same with the solar panel size used in residential roof solar installations. Solar farms and bigger facilities are also applicable for ground-mounted solar installations. These properties need larger-scale ground-mounted systems, usually 72-cell solar panels to power the entire building. In this case, a wider field or ground space is needed to install the solar power system. 

How Much Does it Cost to Get a Ground-Mounted Solar System?

When it comes to residential and commercial/agricultural properties, there will be a significant difference between the cost of ground-mounted solar panels installation before and after applying incentives. To give you an estimated cost, the average residential property can expect to pay between $23,000 and $46,000+ to get a ground-mounted solar system, but prices still vary depending on the size of solar panels. Whereas, commercial and industrial properties can expect to pay $66,000 to $200,000+ to install a ground-mounted solar system. 

Manufacturers

In the simplest terms, manufacturing is the process of producing actual goods or items/products through the use of raw materials, human labour, use of machinery, tools and other processes such as chemical formulation. This process usually starts with product designing and raw material selection, turning them into an actual product output. 

Solar Products Manufacturers and Factories

In terms of solar, manufacturing encompasses the fabrication or production of materials across the solar market chain. The most common product being manufactured by solar companies are the solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which are made with several subcomponents such as solar wafers, cells, glass, back sheets, and frames. Before a solar panel comes into life, it will undergo a lot of processes, from designing, modelling, choosing what raw materials to use and then assembling them all to make the final product.

More Than Just Solar Panels

Aside from the solar panels, solar companies have many other manufactured products that are required to make solar energy systems work smoothly, like solar inverters, batteries, combiner boxes, and racking and tracking structures.

Having a solar manufacturing sector makes a big difference in supplying affordable solar energy in different areas. Aside from maintaining the rising domestic and global demand for cleaner and renewable energy, they also help the economy grow, particularly the solar industry. If you are in search of a reliable solar manufacturing company, checking out our solar outsourcing company, SolarFeeds, would help you get easy access to reliable information, news, data and a list of solar manufacturers that can help you with solar products.

Tanzania

Solar Market Outlook in Tanzania

Tanzania is endowed with a rich supply of renewable energy sources, such as solar. This is why the country has lofty ambitions for its renewable energy market, especially the solar energy sector, in terms of achieving its energy generation targets. The current electric generation in the country is derived from natural gas and hydropower; however, the frequency of droughts has resulted in a limited power supply. They are now looking at solar power as a viable solution in order to bridge the supply gap in the country’s energy market.

A problem exists in Tanzania, as well as many other African countries, in the form of some villages and rural areas not having access to electricity as they are too far out from the grid network. In this case, solar panel installations were the most efficient solution to bring power to more homes. There is an innovative financial mechanism that was forged by the government to promote solar power development in the underserved areas. 

The country’s state-owned power utility has also agreed to buy clean energy assets in order to encourage more power producers. In 2020, six small-scale solar projects were launched in an effort to boost its solar energy generation capacity. 

Solar Energy Equipment Supply Capacity in Tanzania

There are plenty of global and online suppliers for solar power equipment for those looking to install small- or large-scale solar PV systems. 

Top 8 Major Seaports & Logistics in Tanzania

The location of Tanzania puts it into a favorable position when it comes to the transport of solar power equipment to the country. The major ports serving the logistics and trade are the ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanga, and Mtwara. There are also many other minor ports but most of them handle passenger traffic.