Agrivoltaics Mounts for Solar-Powered Agriculture and Research Projects
Solar Mounts on Ranches, Farms, and Research Fields
As a type of dual-use solar racking, top-of-pole mounts permit full and easy access to the ground below while arrays are raised for optimal productivity overhead.
Top-of-pole mounts offer the high ground clearance, toughness, and configurability that make them ideal for agrivoltaics research projects and energy generation on farms, ranches, and other agriculture spaces.
Besides just generating energy for facilities and equipment, and offsetting operational cost, top-of-pole mounts enhance farmland it multiple ways. By sheltering the ground, it’s easier to control soil conditions, which can help reduce erosion, irrigation demands, and the harshest effects of direct sunlight and wind. Top-of-pole mounts are also energy-producing shade structures that are greatly appreciated by grazing livestock of all sizes.
Versatility and Adaptability
for All Types of Agriculture
Top-of-pole mounts fit seamlessly with all types of land requirements, crop and livestock needs, and farming functions, including:
- Vegetable and Grain Farms
- Dairy, Poultry, Meat, and Fiber Farms
- Feedlots, Ranches, Rangeland, and Meadows
- Vineyards
- Orchards and Fruit and Nut Farms
- Flower and Seed Farms
- Sod and Turf Farms
- Animal Husbandry Projects
- Honey Producers and Apiculture
- Organic, Natural Pasture, and No-Till Farms
- Cooperative Farms and Allotments
How MT Solar Mounts Benefit Agrivoltaics
Engineered for Higher Ground Clearance
If you want adaptability and longevity, higher ground clearance is the way to get them. Front edge ground clearance provides access for farming equipment and keeps modules above grazing animals. It also gives you the freedom to change your agricultural practices and plans, so you can respond to market changes. Unlike most racking, MT Solar mounts are pre-engineered for 10 feet of ground clearance as a standard, making it easy to get a professional engineer’s stamp on a wide range of designs.
Full Adjustability and Flexibility
A built-in, manual tracking system lets you move the solar array across a 0 to 90-degree range. With a quick adjustment to full vertical, you can open up rows for equipment clearance for smooth tilling, seeding, and harvesting. You can maximize output by optimizing array positions for the season and location. You can also quickly adjust arrays to clean modules and prevent dirt, pollen, snow, and other debris from hindering system performance.
Strength, Simplicity, and Resilience
Top-of-pole agrivoltaics mounts use standard steel poles to support arrays of various sizes and configurations with fewer ground penetrations. A simplified, high-strength approach to footing improves resilience. It enables MT Solar mounts to offer some of the highest snow and wind load capacities you’ll find in any solar racking. You can also safely colocate your solar arrays with larger animals like cattle and trust the system to stand strong and sturdy, even if any farming equipment ever veers off-course.
Full-Size Farm Equipment, Easy Operation
Watch how researchers at the University of Illinois’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment use full-size farm equipment between large MT Solar arrays.
Complete Ground Access With an Easy Tilt Adjustment
See how easy it is to change to tilt on MT Solar mounts for full ground access to tilt, sow, harvest, mow, and maintain fields.
MT Solar Mounts and Agrivoltaics Research
Studies across the country are using top-of-pole mounts to examine the best uses and combinations of PV solar and agriculture. With system that test everything from microclimates to array-based rainwater water collection, this type of racking works for a diverse range of study parameters and site requirements. An efficient design and installation process also gives universities and organizations an approachable way to get mounts in the ground and get research underway.
Here are just a few examples of agrivoltaics research projects that use MT Solar mounts.
University of the District of Columbia’s
Firebird Research Farm
Beltsville, Maryland
Metropolitan Solar
Tell Us About Your Project and Get Started
Our design team will reach out to help you get started creating a solar mount design. You can get a quote and specs for essential planning, so you’ll be that much closer to breaking ground on your project.
