25 kW Solar power project in Iowa.

[tcartwri]

Yes, wind loading is an issue here. The footings are 5ft deep poured concrete about 80" apart. The wooden structure is all braced and bolted together. I went to Unirack web site and designed the racking on their program and then made it out of wood. There is room for four landscape rows but I will install only three lower rows on each bank.

The week after I finished mine, we had record breaking winds for our area. Not tornado force, but close. Took out one of my big maples and flattened two sheds... I called the wife from the office and told to get her ***** out there to see what was happening to the array! :laughing:

Didn't even leave witness marks in the backfill around the poles, but frig I was trippin for a while. Didn't have insurance on them at that point either....

 

[Redneck in training]

The week after I finished mine, we had record breaking winds for our area. Not tornado force, but close. Took out one of my big maples and flattened two sheds... I called the wife from the office and told to get her ***** out there to see what was happening to the array! :laughing:

Didn't even leave witness marks in the backfill around the poles, but frig I was trippin for a while. Didn't have insurance on them at that point either....

We need to cal the insurance company and have it insured even before it is put on line. We also have to carry 1 000 000 liability as required by the power company. Our place is also quite windy. The wind might be 80 mph with gusts 100 mph during storms.
How is your racking built? Did you built it DIY or used factory made one.

 

[tcartwri]

It's virtually identical to yours, except that I just sank the posts 52" down and poured one bag of quickcrete as a collar, then backfilled the holes. We have very sandy soil though, so the risk of rot is minimal. I have pulled 40 year old fence posts out of the ground that are still 80% intact. Pretty sure I posted a picture of it in this thread somewhere. The panels themselves contribute a huge amount of strength and rigidity to the structure.

 

[Redneck in training]

It's virtually identical to yours, except that I just sank the posts 52" down and poured one bag of quickcrete as a collar, then backfilled the holes. We have very sandy soil though, so the risk of rot is minimal. I have pulled 40 year old fence posts out of the ground that are still 80% intact. Pretty sure I posted a picture of it in this thread somewhere. The panels themselves contribute a huge amount of strength and rigidity to the structure.

Our soils is clay so frost heaving and shrinkage during drought is an issue here. When we have a dry spell like this year the smooth posts could be pulled out of ground by little force. Therefore I decided to use poured footings thinking they would be much harder to pull out of ground due to large area of contact with soil and also larger mass (each footing is estimated 400-500kg), bolt the racking to it and brace it in EW and NS direction.

 

[Redneck in training]

Here are few pics of what was done so far. I have two arrays completed and on line.

Attaching "solar rails" to the supporting structure.

Tightening clamps.

Inverters and cabling.

Two arrays completed. The rails have room for one more row I might add later on. At this point there will be three arrays with three rows only. I will wait and see how it will hold up after some strong winds and snow load before I add fourth row.
Here is a link to the system live:
https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public/systems/h2eX136588

 

[Barry 1]

If you get the time,how about some info on how the panels are attached to the rails??? Did you bolt the panel frames together also? Did the unirac come freight,that you had to pick up somewhere?

 

[Redneck in training]

If you get the time,how about some info on how the panels are attached to the rails??? Did you bolt the panel frames together also? Did the unirac come freight,that you had to pick up somewhere?

The racking is Ironridge that is cheaper than Unirac. IronRidge The panels are not bolted together. I bought panels, the rails, inverters, Emphase cable and associated hardware such as clamps in one place. It all came in several deliveries directly to my house. The two arrays took about three weeks to build and put on line.

 

[MotorSeven]

Redneck...those arrays are massive....wow!

 

[sodamo]

With only 6040 watts of PV, have to say I'm a bit envious.

Good looking job.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

 

[Redneck in training]

With only 6040 watts of PV, have to say I'm a bit envious.

Good looking job.

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

Well, I am envious too. Love your location. The size of our system is necessity. We have 100% electric house and in our climate we either heat or air condition the house. So we pay for energies pretty much year around. If the cost of the panels and inverters drops even lower I will add another 8 kW.