What is solar panel mounting and racking
Solar panel mounts and racks are equipment that secure solar panels in place.
Mounting allows the panels to be adjusted for optimal tilt, which can be based on latitude, seasons, or even time of day — to ensure maximum solar energy production. The most common locations for mounting are on the roof, using solar roof mounts, or on the ground with ground-mount options.
Mounting systems are the metal racks that hold up solar panels either on roofs or on the ground.
The most common technique of module mounting is using a solar panel mounting bracket. Mounting brackets are heavy-duty equipment, usually made from stainless steel or aluminum. All solar racking and mounting products, whether for the rooftop or ground, must meet strict guidelines to ensure durability and structural integrity to withstand high winds and weather events.
What are the important components of a rooftop racking system
Solar panel racking equipment is built with 3 main components:
Roof attachments
Module clamps
Mounting rails
Each tool plays a key role in how the structure supports your panels, to ensure you get the most amount of solar power out of them.
Roof attachments
The roof attachments are the fasteners that will be drilled into your roof in order to secure the racking system in place.
The holes these drills create will be surrounded by ‘flashing’, which is a plastic or metal shield that is inserted between shingles to prevent water from getting into the hole. However, roof attachments differ for each roof type.
To dig a little deeper, take a look at more information on installing solar panels on clay tile roofs, metal roofs, and flat surface roofs.
Roof attachments are drilled into the roof and secured with flashing to protect against water. Image source: EcoFasten
Module clamps
The module clamps attach the drilled-in roof attachments to the mounting rails. There are a few different module clamp types for each angle and corner of the solar panel.
Module clamps come in a few different sizes and shapes to secure the roof attachments at every angle.
Mounting rails
After drilling into the roof, the roof attachments are then connected to mounting rails via module clamps that will then support the solar panels.
Although there are railless racking options available, rails are most commonly used because they can be secured to most roof angles, and because many installers are trained using rail mounting systems.
Mounting rails are attached to the roof via the roof attachments and are able to angle solar panels properly to most angled roofs.
Ground Mounting Systems
These are built to be long-lasting, flexible, and withstand any weather. They also come with a 25-year warranty.
A ground-mounted solar power system is just what it sounds like - a system of solar panels that are mounted on the ground on your property, rather than on the roof of your house.
Ground-mounted solar panels can be installed any place on your property that has sufficient open space and good sun exposure. The panels can be placed anywhere from a few inches to a few feet off the ground, depending on how the racking system is set up. The panels feed power to a solar inverter, which is located either on the mounting system behind the panels or in the house.
Residential ground-mount solar installations are generally built using 60-cell solar panels - the same solar panel size typically used in residential rooftop solar installations. Meanwhile, larger-scale ground-mounted systems, like ones used in solar farms, tend to use larger, 72-cell solar panels.
Ground-mounted solar panels are also known as backyard solar panels, free-standing solar panels, and ground-mount PV systems.
What are the different types of ground-mount solar installations
You can use either a standard ground mount, which fixes the panels in one place, or a pole mount, which puts them higher off the ground.
Standard ground mount
Standard or traditional ground mounts use ground anchors to hold up a racking table that supports the solar panels on rails. The exact method of anchoring will depend on your ground conditions: using concrete piers is most common, but driven piers, helical piles, and concrete ballasts are options, as well.
Standard ground mount systems typically hold the solar array in a fixed position, although options for manual adjustment are gaining popularity.
The standard ground-mount system is the easiest and most cost-effective solution for a ground install, and also the most common.
Pole mount
To build a pole-mount solar system, you dig one big hole into the ground, instead of several smaller holes as with a standard ground-mount. A large pole is set into the ground, upon which you connect your rails and mount your solar panels.
Pole-mount systems offer greater clearance from the ground, which is useful in avoiding foliage or other ground obstructions, and can even be used to provide space and shelter for animals to graze underneath. Another advantage of pole mounts is that they can easily incorporate a single-axis or dual-axis tracking system; these enable the panels to follow the sun over the course of the day and thus produce more energy.
On the flipside, pole mounts with tracking systems have a higher cost per watt, and most people find it cheaper to instead install a standard ground-mount array with more solar panels.
