The Ground Mount "Tubs" Thread.

I thought this might serve others well who perhaps don't have a good south facing roof, but do have a little bit of extra south facing grass. You could consider this alternative ground mounting option.

Long story short, my roof might have gotten 11 panels in an east / west configuration. I have space out the back, but I wasn't mad about a big industrial mount, so I had decided to take the performance hit and put them on the roof.

But in fairness to the installers they showed me this option and advised me well so I made right choice in the end.

It's pretty ingenious, and requires very little work.

I was lucky I had a relatively flat area of grass behind a shed that is open to the south, and importantly was doing nothing. It's not totally level. There is a slight hump, but it didn't matter. I didn't need any ground works. The most I did was dig a shallow trench for the cables to the back door.

I had pre ordered

3 bags of hardcore stone.

50m of Weed blocker.

50 cement blocks.

First step was to roll out the weed blocker and wheel barrow some stone to hold it down.

The tubs were then placed in a line. They are 1.8m wide and hold one panel each. I put 5 in a line and put in 3 rows. Each row needs to be 1.2-1.5 apart for shadows. I was going for 16 panels so I ended up with one extra 4th row of just one panel , but to the side of the shed so makes use of some dead space.

Each tub had 3 cement blocks placed into them, so they won't blow over, but you can shift it a little if you need to level it later by putting a shovel of stone under it.

The 16 Panels were attached then. The panel guys started at 9am and we're packed in the van by 12pm heading for home, job done. The Electricians then finished the installation.

Because it's right behind the shed I put the battery and inverter in the shed and then ran a cable to the back door to the fuse board.

I've been very happy with them. They perform very well. I've often seen them hitting well over 6.5kw.

Cost was €9,600. After grant. For 16 x 430w panels , 16 tubs, 5kw battery, inverter and fitting.

Pros:

No scaffolding. / Roof access.

If I need to move them later I can.

I can clean them easily.

It's easy to add more.

Cons:

They are big. So you do need space.

Kids can walk on them.

You see them all the time. ( I think they look nice but that's not shared by everyone in the house 😀 )

Here's some pictures. I am planning on adding a wooden sleeper border and some more "decorative stone" so it's more of a feature.

If you have any questions fire away.