Ground mount · Wake Forest

Ground mount on a well served property

A compromised roof, four clear acres and a well pump at the top of the backup list.

Array12.3 kW DC
MountingFixed tilt, 30 degrees true south
FoundationDriven pile
Conductor run210 ft trenched

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Record

Full specification

Array: 12.3 kW DC
Mounting: Fixed tilt, 30 degrees true south
Foundation: Driven pile
Conductor run: 210 ft trenched
Storage: 13.5 kWh usable
Modelled year one: 16,700 kWh

The problem

The house roof faced east and west with a 6:12 pitch and a large dormer, which capped a rooftop array at around 7 kW with mediocre orientation.

The property runs on a private well. The submersible pump draws around 1,200 W running with a starting surge near 2,400 W, which had to be inside the inverter's surge capability.

What we did

Ground mount at 30 degrees facing true south, sited 210 ft from the service to clear the septic field and the tree line.

Driven pile foundation after pull testing confirmed the soil would hold without concrete, which saved both cost and cure time.

Single 13.5 kWh module with an inverter rated to carry the pump's surge alongside the refrigerator and the lighting circuits.

What happened

Modelled 16,700 kWh in year one against household consumption of 14,900 kWh, so the array covers the full load with margin for a future vehicle.

A June outage of nine hours ran the well, the refrigerator and the lighting without the owners changing their behaviour.

Maintenance is now a walk across the field rather than a roof visit.

What we took from it

Where land exists and the roof is compromised, the trench is worth it. The additional racking and conductor cost was recovered by the better orientation inside the first decade of the model.