Renewable energy · Solar
Ground-mounted solar
First of all, canopies, carports and car parks. Then residential ground-mounted solar, where anyone with a little land has no reason to climb onto the roof for a small system.
Manual installation for residential systems, mechanised for large plants. Faster, safer and quieter sites. Full removal at the end of use: no demolition, no remediation, nothing left in the ground.
Ground-mounted solar, segment by segment
In order of how common they are: first the covers for car parks and parking spaces, then residential ground-mounted systems. Each segment has its own load, soil and contractual constraints, and its own series.
Canopies, carports and car parks
The leading ground-mounted solar application: covers for parking spaces and parking areas, private, commercial and public. The screws go into the yard, even an already paved one, without breaking it up, and carry the structure from below.
Country houses, farm stays, historic residences
Residential ground-mounted solar. For a few tens of kW, anyone with land around the house has no reason to go up on the roof: the roof is not drilled, orientation and tilt are chosen freely, and all later work is done on foot.
Medium-sized ground-mounted systems
Farms, wineries, hospitality businesses, yards. Direct flange fixing for standard solar mounting structures, with no footings and no concrete pour.
Agrivoltaics
Solar on cultivable farmland. Typical contractual requirement: removability when the concession ends. See the dedicated page.
Substations and power stations
The prefabricated substation sits on a steel frame anchored with screw foundations: no concrete slab, removable, reversible works. See the section below.
The leading application
Canopies, carports and car parks
It is the most requested area of ground-mounted solar, and the one where a screw foundation makes the clearest difference: in a car park the paving is already there. A concrete footing means breaking it up, digging, pouring and making good; a ground screw needs one hole and nothing else.
It applies to the home parking space, the company car park and the public one, and also to anyone who wants the canopy without panels for now, adding the solar system later on the same ground anchors.
Go to Carports and canopiesWhy ground screws for solar
Fast, mechanised installation
The screws are driven with a hydraulic drive head or an electric power driver. No waiting for concrete to cure: the structure can be mounted the next day.
No concrete, no digging
No slab, no footings, no concrete pour. The ground stays intact under the panels and between the rows: less earthmoving, fewer heavy vehicles on site.
Removable when the concession ends
On farmland or leased land, at the end of the system’s life the screws are unscrewed and taken away, leaving no trace: no demolition, and they can be reused on another site.
Suited to mixed soils
The T-Block series cover loose, clay, gravel, sloping, frost-prone and seismic ground. Sizing is calculated on the real soil parameters to the Italian NTC 2018 code.
Recommended T-Block classes for solar
An overview of the families most requested for solar. For detailed sizing, use the configurator.
For light and light-to-medium structures, fixed or on single-axis trackers. Ø48 shaft with 6 helix turns and a Ø140 mm round flange with 6 slots for direct fixing of the structure; also available with a hex head.
Longer than the T5, for higher loads or where the surface bearing capacity of the soil is low. Hex head (46, 60 or 70 across flats) with M12 or M16 threaded connection, in galvanized steel or AISI 304 stainless steel.
Larger structural tube section, up to 2 m long. Also available in AISI 304 stainless steel for aggressive environments. Designed for the loads of large solar plants and dual-axis trackers.
Lengths are nominal, with a tolerance of ±1 cm.
Country houses, farm stays, historic residences
If you have the land, you don't need the roof
For a system of a few tens of kW on a farmhouse, a farm stay or a historic residence, the choice between roof and ground is not forced: anyone with space around the house can put the panels on the ground. And it almost always pays off.
In these buildings the roof is the most delicate and most expensive part to redo: old clay tiles, timber structures, irregular pitches, limited load capacity. Drilling it to fix brackets creates leak points in a roof that was never designed for them.
No holes in the roof
No through-brackets, no leak points, no conflict with the roof covering warranty. The roof can be redone without dismantling the system.
Maintenance on the ground, not at height
Cleaning the modules, inspections, replacements, snow: all done on foot. No fall-arrest lines, no scaffolding or platforms, no work on the roof. It is the biggest difference in safety and in long-term cost.
Orientation by choice, not by chance
On the ground, orientation and tilt are decided at the design stage instead of accepting those of the roof pitch. The system can even be placed where it cannot be seen from the building.
Light-touch and reversible
No concrete footings in the ground: the screws are unscrewed and the lawn goes back to being a lawn. On a listed or valuable property it is removable works, not a permanent change.*
How it is built, in three steps
No digging, no concrete pour, no curing time: between the untouched lawn and the panels producing power there are just three assembly stages.
* How the works are classified for planning purposes, and any landscape protection constraints, depend on local regulations and on the project: always check with your designer, the local authority and, for protected buildings, the heritage authority.
MV/LV substations · Power stations · Plant rooms
Substations without a concrete slab
Every solar plant connected at medium voltage needs a transformer substation or a power station. The usual practice is to set it on a concrete slab: excavation, reinforcement, pour, curing, and permanent works in the ground, with the planning procedure that goes with them. With T-Block the prefabricated substation sits and is bolted on a steel frame anchored to the ground with screw foundations: installation is finished in a day, and at end of life everything is unscrewed.
No slab, no digging
The screws are driven, the frame is bolted, the substation is fixed on top. No pour, no curing time: the base is ready the same day, even in winter or bad weather.
Removable, reversible works
No permanent masonry in the ground: when the concession ends the substation is lifted off, the screws are unscrewed and the land goes back to how it was. Compared with a slab, the absence of permanent works can simplify the permitting process*.
Precise levelling
The base is levelled by adjusting the screws, even on ground that is not perfectly flat. The substation stays raised off the ground: ventilated, protected from standing water, with inspectable cable routes.
Recommended series: T7 — T15
The anchor points (typically 4 to 12, depending on the weight and geometry of the substation) are sized on the real geotechnical parameters of the site to the Italian NTC 2018 code. Send us the datasheet and weight of the substation: we reply with the anchoring layout and a clear quote.
* How the works are classified for planning purposes depends on local regulations and on the project: check with your designer and the local authority.
Ground screws vs driven posts vs concrete
A qualitative comparison for solar. Real figures depend on the specific project: use the configurator for an estimate on your case.
| Criterion | T-Block ground screws | Driven posts | Concrete footing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical installation time per anchor | 3 — 5 min | 3 — 5 min | pour + up to 28 days of curing |
| Excavation needed | none | none | yes, possibly with reinforcement |
| Removable at end of life | yes (unscrewed, leaves no trace) | partly (extraction damages the ground) | no (demolition + disposal) |
| Compatibility with farmland | very good | fair | poor |
| Reuse on another site | yes | limited | no |
| Embodied CO₂ (order of magnitude) | low (steel + galvanizing only) | medium | high |
Frequently asked questions
Do you need concrete footings or pours for a ground-mounted solar system?
What happens to the foundations at the end of the system's life?
Can they be used on sloping ground?
How do you choose the T-Block model for a solar system?
Can transformer cabins be anchored too?
More answers on service life, soils and permits in the FAQ.
Something that needs saying
We haven't changed our minds.
Solar has changed.
We supplied foundations for ground-mounted solar early on. In 2009 our screws carried a plant of around 6 MW at Montalto di Castro, built in ninety days without a single concrete pour.
Then we stopped. Not because we didn't believe in solar, but because we didn't agree with taking land away from farming just to produce energy. We left that segment despite the know-how we had built up, and that decision cost us.
Today things are different. Agrivoltaics makes it possible to produce energy and keep farming or grazing the same land. So we decided to put that knowledge back to work, for agrivoltaic design.
The structure can change. The land must remain land.
Ready to design your solar plant?
Send us the type of system, its output, the soil and your schedule: we reply with the right T-Block class and a clear quote.