Ground mount with high wind requirements

[kcofhb]

Hello all, I live in SW Florida, Lee County to be specific, and we have some very high wind requirements when is comes go solar mounts. After speaking with my inspector it seems that I need a mount, ground mount, that will meet a wind spec of at least 139mph and I am having a hard time finding one that works for me. I intend to have 4 strings of 8, 460w Bluesun bifacial panels. I would prefer to keep the strings no deeper/higher than one panel, either vertical or horizontal, in an effort to keep it kinda low profile so that I can surround it with a fence. I have found several companies out there that have this type of system but everyone that I have contacted only do very large commercial projects. Could you all please, PLEASE, give me some direction as to if this mount is an option? Please know that I have contacted signature solar to see if any of their mounts could be configured to meet my requirements and they do not. I also spoke with a rep from Powerfield about the Power Rack, no luck. Thanks to all who give this some consideration wether you have an answer or not.

 

[TM48]

Check out Ironridge . They have a excellent configuration program that goes to 160 mph. My mount was engineered for 150 mph. Your desire to stay with one panel tall will require some serious real estate. I went the other way max tall with fve panels in landscape. This minimized the number of vertical piers.

 

[RichBenn]

I second Ironridge. I live in a very windy area where the snowload and wind requirements have changed alot in recent years. The design program Ironridge uses has a huge database of panels and locations, letting you specify wind area specs and snow load and the exact panels you use and it will spit out a bill of materials and engineering drawings. Free! Well worth it.

They had a minimum of two rows in landscape mode for the 400 watt panels I used, so YMMV

 

[doksinc]

Check out SunBallast...I live near Tampa and had to install with similar wind zone requirements. And if you confine PV wire under mounts with chicken wire or mesh you won't need a perimeter fence

 

[kcofhb]

Thank you every one for your help

 

[Gold Country Russ]

To be effective you need a white reflective surface under your bifacial panels and ideally, they should be 42" above the ground on the front edge to optimize light reflectance. Check out Sinclair, Powers, and Opsun mounts but they are pricy.