Installer’s Stories

71kW Off-Grid Solar System in Southern Colorado Anderson Liberty Ranch of La Veta, CO is a sprawling property with picturesque views of the Spanish Peaks and open Colorado sky. The nine-bedroom lodge maintains many modern comforts in pristine and rugged surroundings. But, places this pristine don’t always offer the most reliable power infrastructure. The ranch operates amenities that include a hot tub, sauna, steamer, boiler, and water pumps on a volatile, underperforming utility connection. Energy [...]

How do you create a fully off-grid lifestyle in a wilderness lodge without compromising on upscale comforts? This installer story shows how best-of-brand solar energy solutions made it possible. Every solar mount project is different, but capacity, reliability, and suitability are consistent requirements. When it comes to capacity, cost needs to be justified through power generation potential. Return on investment is a major consideration in many off-grid projects and budget can be a significant driver of design and [...]

Snell Family Farm is home to cows, pigs, chickens, and a garden. With the recent addition of a top-of-pole mount, the property is a great example of a successful DIY solar farm. Loren Snell sought a solar racking solution that could be assembled with minimal assistance. With this being a beginner installation, the system needed to be approachable, intuitive, and light on labor demands. On installing the single-pole mount with a 12-module solar array, Loren appreciated [...]

Agrivoltaics Research with Colorado State University Food, energy, and water are three resources in high demand by people on our planet. Agrivoltaics is a concept that aims to optimize the production and demand of these precious resources. In the semi-arid climate of Colorado, Sandbox Solar and Colorado State University collaborate on an agrivoltaics project that researches solutions to food, energy, and water demands. By combining MT Solar Pole Mounts with crops like lettuce and chard they have demonstrated that [...]

Three Forks Multi-Pole Solar Array written by Dianna Manetta, MREA When Leandra Hill of Three Forks, Montana, decided to install a solar energy system on her property – a former dairy farm – she discovered that her rooftop was just not appropriate for solar due to shading by large trees. Luckily, she learned, there was an alternative: a pole-mounted solar array. Ms. Hill’s recently-completed 15 kilowatt pole-mounted solar array is expected to provide 100% of the annual electricity use of [...]

Klamert Multi-Pole Project written by Kyle The owners of these systems contacted me over a year ago looking for a small off-grid system for their geodesic green house. After meeting with the prospective clients, we started talking about net metering and how it could benefit them and eliminate the need for an off-grid system. Upon further discussion we determined that one of the sites would qualify for a rural energy development grant through the USDA. After receiving the customer’s energy [...]

Buckhorn Springs Single Pole Mounts The history of southern Oregon’s Buckhorn Springs dates back to the late 1800s when James Clarke Tolman built a resort to take advantage of the site’s mineral water and carbon dioxide springs, which many believed had curative properties. Buckhorn Springs’s current owners, Bruce and Leslie Sargent, purchased the run-down resort in 1987 and embarked on a life-long family effort to restore the historic structures and create a modern retreat center steeped in the site’s [...]

What Buffalo Solar Solutions in Buffalo, NY had to say about our solar pole mounts: "MT Solar makes pole mount installations a breeze!  To show you just how quickly and easily they go together, we made a video of the installation: https://youtu.be/QIS3dJ_YSZk With traditional pole mounts, depending on the height of poles needed, it almost always has to be assembled on top of the pole using big ladders. This could be unsafe and very time consuming. With MT Solar's [...]

Homeowner Andrew Smith tells us about his experience installing a MT Solar Two-Pole Mount... I assembled it myself with the help of, at most, two other people. Even on a fairly steep slope, I was impressed by how well every piece fit together and the quality of workmanship. On a slope, assembling two halves of the structure worked well. It was a challenge to ensure that the two sub-arrays were perfectly parallel before I started installing solar panels when they were [...]

This 24 module two-pole system had to be designed to withstand the harsh conditions of a snowy, lakeside lodge.  It was engineered to be installed at 9000 ft, with 130 mph winds and 60 psf snow load.  According to installer Doug Medina, the building and raising of the frame and array only took one long day. Being able to build evrything at waist level allowed the four guys on our crew to work safer and more efficiently. This system [...]