Hope this is in the right part of the forum. Has anyone mounted a solar array to a large retaining wall? Our is the type with the super heavy poured concrete blocks that vary from 3+ tons each to .4 ton each. My thought is to fab up some triangles out of aluminum, and use heavy expansion bolts to mount 72 cells panels in portrait to the face of the blocks. Our wall varies from 7' to 11' in the area where panels would be, and we would not attach into the top blocks, because they are the most likely to settle over time. If we trimmed back a few over-hanging trees, we could get enough panels on this wall to offset all our electrical needs.
Did think about making provisions to account for slight settling, like slotted vertical rails. Another thought is to drive ground screws in a few feet from the base to hold the bottom of any rail, and just one brace into a mid to upper block for support. Because the wall curves, initial thoughts are that each mounted group of panels might only be 3 wide.
Any thoughts? Concerns?
Happy Turkey Day!
Did think about making provisions to account for slight settling, like slotted vertical rails. Another thought is to drive ground screws in a few feet from the base to hold the bottom of any rail, and just one brace into a mid to upper block for support. Because the wall curves, initial thoughts are that each mounted group of panels might only be 3 wide.
Any thoughts? Concerns?
Happy Turkey Day!