Osprey racks has anyone used them?

[kenabcd]

I have the panels, I have the inverter, I have the wiring and a place to connect it to, I need ground mount panel racks.

I need advice or suggestions on a mounting scheme. I am looking for a way to get solar panel ground mount racks that will work for me. I have touched base with several suppliers varying from beautiful 2 axis tracking mono-poles to Chinese car port structures. I get the impression business is good and piddling around with some guy who wants a cheap 24 panel array is wasting valuable time.

So far I think that an Osprey brand system made by https://nuanceenergy.com/solar-products/osprey-powerplatform that you build on top of the ground then drive anchors and cables into the ground to secure may work for my situation.

I am leaning towards this system for several reasons, it looks like it could be assembled by one or two people rather quickly and it would not require any outside foundation contractor to be acceptable to my building inspector. This rack also looks like it could be moved if desired since the only thing tying it to the ground are driven anchors attached to hold down cables.

The downside is cost. I think it would cost about $4000.00 ± for racks to mount 24 series 72 panels.

I am trying to rationalize the panels cost of $2650.00 for a pallet of 25 pieces versus $4000.00 for some tubing and bolts to stand them up. On the other hand, I don't really want to engineer a rack system if this one is very easy and quick. I have until springtime in Minnesota to figure this out, I could still decide to DIY a solution and use the extra money for more panels.

I am interested in any feedback or suggestions on ground mount racks. I have tools and equipment, but time to work on this foolish hobby of mine is in short supply.

I am looking forward to any advice

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I have no info on the Osprey system.

I can muddy the waters with this DIY plan:

Solar Panel Mounting On Steel Pipes – RPS Solar Pumps | America's #1 Solar Well Pumps

www.rpssolarpumps.com

Designed for 100W panels, but could be readily adapted to any size.

I too had reservations about spending more on racks than panels, so I designed my own racking system:



Made from angle iron w/holes punched at the supplier. Bolt together.

 

[kenabcd]

Thank you for the reply. I have looked at prefab strut material. Is there a set of plans out there showing how to fab something that a building inspector would be OK with?

The local code as I read it seems to exempt ground mount from the code, but I will need a permit and inspection. I talked to the inspector and he seemed to infer that the structure still had to be able to withstand anything it may be exposed to....

 

[Hedges]

In my area (San Jose) structure permit required, unless within non-permit size building.
That is a 120 square foot footprint, and peak height 16' for shed roof.
So maybe four or 6 posts making 12' x 10' rectangle, 30 to 40 degree slope, horizontal pipes extending 2' or so left and right, rails extending 2' or so (as projected on the horizontal.

They looked at my drawings, stamped them "no permit required", and back then charged me more for the "permit to not have a permit" than they charged for the electrical permit.

You do want it to withstand any wind and earthquake.
Wind forces become pull-up on posts, which need mass of concrete, maybe earth over "T" footings also counts. I used 1/2" bolts to existing concrete.
Also bending-beam, you can look up limits on a web site for the horizontals and rails.
I have diagonals rear to front and left to right.

 

[Turkey Hollow Solar]

I think the Nuance Osprey system is a good option...that's what we're using for our DIY project. It is easy to assemble, and as you mentioned it does not require concrete or ground screws.

 

[OzSolar]

I am interested in any feedback or suggestions on ground mount racks. I have tools and equipment, but time to work on this foolish hobby of mine is in short supply.

I am looking forward to any advice

I'm looking at Osprey for a 13kW project. Normally we would do an Iron Ridge with locally sourced pipe and concrete.

I think it pencils out nicely compared to the Iron Ridge but having never done one I came here looking for reviews of the Osprey. Hopefully someone with experience will chime in.

I've installed a few dozen solar array's over the years. Ranging from a few modules to a 100kW. I have learned that as expensive as prefab racking sounds it's usually a BARGAIN by the time you factor in anything in for your time and pain and suffering. Not to mention there is some actual engineering plus a warranty backing the product up.

 

[Abbott]

I am looking at Osprey for a 12.5 kW project. My first 2 projects were with iron Ridge, using the iron Ridge ground mount design tool online. The permit inspectors like this a lot because iron Ridge provides all the engineering specs and over builds sufficiently that pemitters don't think I can I can screwed up. It required that I dig 42 inch holes and mix and pour cement in an awkward area. Pouring the post into cement took me many hours that I think Osprey could cut drastically. My 3rd project was a small (2.5kw) off grid self designed ballast system using C channels and concrete posts bases from Home Depot. If you use Osprey please comment here so we all learn more.

 

[Abbott]

I think the Nuance Osprey system is a good option...that's what we're using for our DIY project. It is easy to assemble, and as you mentioned it does not require concrete or ground screws.

Hi Turkey, did you finish you Osprey system, and did you like it? Was it much faster to install as advertised.

 

[BlueMarblePA]

Hi Turkey, did you finish you Osprey system, and did you like it? Was it much faster to install as advertised.

Am also curious how osprey install went

 

[OzSolar]

Here's a thread that mentions them several times. I give some details on them on post #34.

If you have homogenous soil they are great, but if you've got the stuff I've got around here which is a lot of rocks from baseball to basketball size they are awful.

Insane quotes for ground mount

We used a ground mount from : https://snapnrack.com/products/200-ground-mount-system/ The piers were deep. Ours has to survive hurricanes. We don't get the full hurricane wind inland, probably 120mph gusts here, max. I tried to rent an auger, none available, no rental places could tell me how...

diysolarforum.com

 

[dcg9381]

I'd love to hear some actual pricing info for given array sizes.