Ground mount solar installation in northwest Montana
If the roof faces the wrong way, the ground does not have to. A fixed rack set at the exact angle the math wants, or a 2‑axis tracker that follows the sun for up to 40 percent more energy from the same panels, each one engineered for the ground it stands on.
- Mounting
- Fixed rack or 2-axis tracker
- Foundation
- Concrete piers, engineered per site
- Output
- Up to 40% more with tracking
- Equipment
- Enphase microinverters
A roof only faces one direction. The ground doesn’t have to.
When a roof is shaded, too small, or pointed the wrong way, and there is land to work with, a ground mount lets us set the array at the exact tilt and direction the production math actually wants. That means more power from the same panels, an array you can clear with a broom after a storm, room to add panels later, and never a hole in your roof. We build both: a fixed rack set once at the angle that works best for your site, or a 2‑axis tracker that follows the sun from morning to evening for up to 40 percent more energy than a fixed array of the same size.
We design to the site: the piers, the tilt, tracking or not, modeled on your own ground and priced before anything is ordered, with fixed and tracking shown side by side so you pick with the numbers in front of you. Our own crew designs and installs it, and we service what we sell. Labor and every piece of equipment carry a warranty, and every review Northstone has on Google is five stars.
Book a free consultationGround mount installs in the Flathead Valley
“I can’t say enough about Northstone Solar. The process of having solar put on our cabin in the North Fork was seamless. Great communication and professionalism.”
Rob S., Google review
Fixed rack and tracker output, modeled for this valley
- 1,174 kWh
- Modeled yearly output per kW from a fixed rack at Whitefish, tilted 30 degrees toward the sun.
- 1,685 kWh
- Modeled yearly output per kW from a 2‑axis tracker at the same spot, same modeling method.
- 43%
- How much more the tracker made than the fixed rack in that model. We quote a more careful up to 40 percent.
Modeling: NREL PVWatts version 8 for Whitefish, a 1 kilowatt reference system at 14% losses, a fixed open rack at 30 degrees against 2‑axis tracking. Every real site gets modeled on its own before you decide.
Questions about ground mount solar
- Why put panels on the ground instead of the roof?
- Because the ground can be aimed. When a roof is shaded, too small, or facing the wrong way, and there’s land to work with, a ground mount lets us set the array at the exact tilt and direction the production math wants.
- How much more does a tracker really produce?
- NREL PVWatts modeling for this valley puts it at Whitefish: a 2‑axis tracker models about 43% above a fixed ground mount at the same spot, 1,685 against 1,174 kWh per kW each year. We quote up to 40 percent to be safe, and model your own site before you choose.
- What actually holds a ground mount in place?
- Concrete piers and racking engineered for the site it stands on. The hilltop tracker in our photos stands on a pier set for that exact spot.
- Fixed rack or tracker: how do we choose?
- With the numbers. A fixed rack costs less and has no moving parts. A tracker makes more energy from the same panels. Where the site allows both, we quote both and show you the math side by side, then you decide.