Ground mounted array
- Thread starter Havouza15
- Start date
MichaelK
Solar Wizard
I installed rotating mounts, and what I've personally found is that I could get 5.1kWh from a 1kW array on a February 8th years back. With it stationary I would expect no more than 3.0kWh, so close to double.
In the real-world, here is a more important consideration. At 8:00AM, the sun is at such and acute angle to the panels that your 10kW array is only putting out ~1000W, or 10%. By rotating your panels strings eastwards, you can easily double or triple that.
That becomes very important to me on days when I want to run my well-pump. I find I can make the 2000W needed to run my pump at 8AM when facing eastward. If they were fixed and facing South, I'd have to wait till 10AM to make 2000W. So, rotating mounts give me at least 4 extra pumping hours per day. So, I can get 8 hours of pumping done with zero battery depletion.
In the real-world, here is a more important consideration. At 8:00AM, the sun is at such and acute angle to the panels that your 10kW array is only putting out ~1000W, or 10%. By rotating your panels strings eastwards, you can easily double or triple that.
That becomes very important to me on days when I want to run my well-pump. I find I can make the 2000W needed to run my pump at 8AM when facing eastward. If they were fixed and facing South, I'd have to wait till 10AM to make 2000W. So, rotating mounts give me at least 4 extra pumping hours per day. So, I can get 8 hours of pumping done with zero battery depletion.
MichaelK
Solar Wizard
No, manual only. Here is a pic of one of my single-row array frames before putting up the panels. Looking at the lower edge of the pic, you can see the struts that adjust declination. I only bother adjusting the declination quarterly. I adjust azumith daily though.
