Have a solar panel and are looking to mount it? You have a lot of options, from the standard ground mounts, roof mounts, pole mounts, to RV mounts and a range of solutions that will secure your panel. We provide an overview of 6 methods, which cover from the 1 to 200 Watts.
Clip Mount <= 2 Watts

For small panels these $2-$3 plastic spring clamps are perfect for attaching to a window, gutter or fence post. We connect an angle bracket through our panels and attach the bracket to the clip. This lets us attach to almost anything and rotate the panel to point at the sun.

solar panel clamp
solar panel clamp closeup
Direct Attach – 1 – 150 Watts
We attach our 15 Watt Generator panels directly to whatever we want to power. You can drill right through the corners of the panels and screw them into just about any surface, in this case an old table frame.
solar table direct mount
Top Of Pole Mount or Side of Pole Mount 40-130+ Watts
Pole mounts are used primarily in instances where roof space, orientation, pitch, or structure are not adequate to support a PV application. These poles come in all shapes and sizes, and their diameter is dependent on the amount (square footage) of panels to be mounted. In most settings, these poles are placed in an excavated hole and set in concrete. A huge advantage of a pole mount system is the range of angles in which the panels can be positioned, increasing the performance as the sun rises in the summer and falls in the winter.
pole_mount solar panel
Examples include:
IronRidge UNI-SA side of pole mount, for smaller installations. This mount will hold a 40W panel for under $60.
Power-Fab top of pole mount for two 130W panels costs $295 (requires installation of 2.5” Schedule 40 steel pipe). Typical rule of thumb is the pipe must be in the ground should be one half of the total length of the length of pipe above ground.
Ground Mount – 40 Watts and up
If you don’t have roof space or you have abundant yard space, posts or pressure treated lumber can be joined together with a racking system to create a ground mount. A universal ground mount for a standard panel up to 130Watt is $99 and available from a range of providers.
ground_mount
Roof Mount – 170 Watts and up
The most commonly used PV mount. The largest roof mounted array in the world resides on a General Motors building in Spain and produces 11.8 MW of energy. Typical roof mounts involve bulky components, and some require roof penetrations, but it still remains the industry standard for residential applications, and can be cost effective and simple. For a simple installation, the DPW Ballast roof mount will hold up to 5 170 Watt modules. Ballast will be required, usually in the form of concrete block but it requires no roof penetration, and can be placed on any type of flat roof.

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