Looking at filling a vertical wall on a 40 foot high cube container with solar panels. Has anyone done anything like that? How did they mount them? Attaching two by fours to the container and then attaching the panels to that is the cheapest, but not sure how strong it would be. Unistrut would cost like over 600 bucks just for the rail. You need about 160 feet of rail to cover the wall. You could just mount the panels directly to the container but then you’d be drilling hundreds of holes in the wall which could lead to leaking.
Mounting solar panels on a 40 foot container?
- Thread starter Calvin98
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hwy17
Anti-Solar Enthusiast
Do you live in the north pole or are you just willing to accept the compromise for a simpler install than an angled array?
hwy17
Anti-Solar Enthusiast
Yeah I am building a due west array. There's a lot of debate there but leaving that aside, try using pvwatts to compare the production at 90 degree tilt vs. 20, 40, etc. I think it's a pretty big hit.
It is. 50% less production. I checked. But with new panels under $0.30/watt, you can't really go wrong. The roof is already covered with panels. Just want to get more power during the 4-9pm peak rate time and see how it works.
A vertical N-S wall of vertical bifacial panels is also interesting. You can get early AM power as well as late PM power from the other side. You don't even need 2 sets of panels back to back anymore.
A vertical N-S wall of vertical bifacial panels is also interesting. You can get early AM power as well as late PM power from the other side. You don't even need 2 sets of panels back to back anymore.
hwy17
Anti-Solar Enthusiast
But if you are already going to figure out how to secure some mounting rails to the top of the container, couldn't you build one row of footers out away from it to kick it out 45 degrees?
But also, I don't disagree with doing something unique anyways, big solar cube look with 90 degrees.
But also, I don't disagree with doing something unique anyways, big solar cube look with 90 degrees.
I might do that. Now I'm thinking of making a frame out of 10' or 12' 2x4's and attaching to the top and other side. Container is 9 /12' tall. No holes required that way. Can be 90 deg vertical and will allow for some air behind the panels. Have plenty of power at noon. If it does not work, can always choose a different mounting. Just wondering if anyone else did anything similar and how they did it. Another benefit of panels on the wall might be that it keeps the inside of the container a bit cooler in the summer since the sun is not hitting it directly anymore.
Well, it’s mostly done. Interesting experiment. West facing wall at this time of year in April puts out about 50% of the power of south facing polemount panels. It does seem to give me at least one extra hour of full solar power in the evening, and of course it evens out the duck curve. Most of the production is from three or 4 PM all the way to six or seven. Will be interesting to see how this does over the course of a full year. This is 19 panels at 320w each. Two strings. One string of 10 and one string of nine. Split into a North string and South string. With solar panels being priced so low and low cost inverters, something like this is practical. 20 years ago this would’ve been cost prohibitive.
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