Ground Mount Manufacture Process
At Venture Steel Group, we pride ourselves on being the premier steel solar mounting solutions provider in the UK. We deliver bespoke solar ground mount solutions tailored to the unique characteristics of your land, ensuring rapid transformation from an unused field to a high-performing solar farm.
1. Initial contact
Embark on your journey towards sustainable energy with just a simple conversation. Reach out to our seasoned team, boasting over two decades of expertise in solar panel ground mount manufacturing. As the UK’s industry leaders, we are committed to realising your renewable energy ambitions. We engage closely with each client, tailoring our projects to meet specific requirements swiftly and efficiently, delivering satisfaction through our personalised approach.
2. Property Planning
Our process starts with a comprehensive analysis of your land. Our structural engineers and designers meticulously assess all aspects of your property using the latest survey maps and ground testing technologies. We conduct on-site evaluations, including push and pull tests, to determine the optimal depth for piling installation, ensuring stability against adverse weather conditions. This data informs the design of custom ground mounts optimised for maximum solar yield.
3. Solar Ground Mount Manufacture
Leveraging cutting-edge CAD software, we seamlessly transfer designs to our manufacturing facilities, where your bespoke solar mounts are crafted. Our industry-leading production capabilities are continually advanced by investments in modern machinery. Our comprehensive plant capabilities enable us to undertake a variety of processes including cutting, punching, rolling, forming, stamping, and welding. For custom projects, we can fabricate special tooling in-house or adapt your tooling to our machinery. We work with a range of steel grades from DX51 to S350-S550 and handle materials in gauges from 0.38 to 6.00mm, accommodating strip lengths from 25mm up to 10m. This flexibility ensures precision and efficiency in producing your tailored solar ground mounts.
4. Ground Mount Delivery
Our commitment to excellence extends to our delivery process. We maintain our own specialist fleet, ensuring we have full control over the delivery timetable. This independence from external contractors guarantees that your custom solar ground mounts are delivered on time every time, directly from our expansive 75,000 sq ft facility.
FAQ's
Ground-mounted solar panels can offer several benefits over rooftop installations.
Ground-mounted solar power systems are not restricted by a small surface area like rooftop solar panels, therefore can serve as much larger systems. They can further be removed, added to, or relocated, with convenience. With the ability to better position the solar panels, ground-mounted systems are often more productive - capturing a greater intensity of solar energy. On larger solar panel systems, the ground can be multifunctional - used for the grazing of livestock for instance.
A ground mount is typically a fixed system, where poles are installed into the ground, using either a piled system, ballast system, or helical screw system.
A piled system is the most common type of foundation, featuring poles driven into the ground and secured with concrete.
A ballast system uses a standard framing system which is anchored by concrete blocks above ground.
A helical screw system features poles screwed into the ground, rather than driven, for security.
Find out more information on how ground mounted solar panels are installed.
Solar panels can be installed as a standard ground mount or a pole mount, for ground installations.
A ground mount system features a mount driven into the ground, and a frame on top of the mount which holds the panel close to the ground, on a tilted angle.
A pole mount, on the other hand, utilises one large pole onto which a panel is directly fixed; pole-mounted solar panels can be adjusted to follow the sun, however, they are much costlier than the ground mount system.
There are lots of different advantages that you can expect from ground mounted solar panels. For starters, they offer easier access to your solar panel system, making maintaining or repairs as simple as can be. They often get greater exposure to sun when positioned in open wide areas, as roof mounted panels will only be benefiting from a limited exposure when the sun hits them ‘just right’. This in turn potentially makes them more efficient, which is certainly a selling point. Many people believe that ground mounted solar panels are safer than those attached to roofing, as faulty wiring or other similar issues could lead to a fire - placing your panels on the ground away from your property would mean that your home remains safe and unaffected. Keeping your panels away from your home will also help to keep your property as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
Pole-mounted solar systems plant a pole in the ground with a concrete foundation. Pole-mounted solar systems come as either top-of-the-pole setups or side-of-the-pole mounts. The main difference between these two mounts is that side-of-pole mounts typically cannot use solar tracking, whereas side-of-pole mounts can work well for smaller solar systems. Side-of-pole mounts typically have two to three solar panels.
As the name suggests, ground mounted solar panels are installed on the ground, as opposed to a rooftop installation. To ensure solar panels are securely anchored into the ground, a custom racking system, or ground mount, is often required. This makes certain the height and positioning of panels facilitates the greatest generation of power.
Ground mounted solar panels do require an initial investment thanks to the labour required to create and install them. However, they are the one of the most cost effective options long term, and when you consider the lifespan of a solar panel it’s clear to see that it’s certainly not an expensive pathway to explore.
Steel solar panel ground mounts are galvanised. Galvanising is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting and keep your ground mounts in the best possible condition.
There’s also a limited number of disadvantages that ground mounted solar panels can trigger. For example, you may end up with less ground space after using land for your installation. You may also need to seek permission to install your solar panels from the relevant governing bodies, which can be a lengthy, tedious and sometimes costly procedure. Of course you may not need to seek permission, but this is something that you should always look into before installation.
A standard solar panel ground mount attaches the solar panels to a metal frame connected to the ground for better balance. They are generally triangular in shape due to the strength and stability offered. The frame can be tilted to your unique specifications to best capture sunlight, helping to increase their efficiency and effectiveness.
Yes, it is possible to use ground-mounted solar panels if you aren’t tied to a grid! Like any off-grid solar panels, you will need a battery to store the electricity, but as long as you have the space and permission to use solar panels, then you can certainly use them off-grid. It’s always a good idea to use a green, renewable energy source when you are off-grid as you can easily convert sunlight to power without disturbing nature or people in any way.
Contact Us
Venture Steel Group are proud UK manufacturers, with two family-owned sites totalling over 75,000 sq. ft. Because of our large dedicated manufacturing capacity, we are able to minister to projects of all sizes, on a global scale.