In the rolling hills of Northern California's wine country, Solar Design Associates sowed a field of 'Electric Sunflowers,' a series of photovoltaic panels providing solar-generated electricity for a 750-acre vineyard. In addition to the main house, the estate includes a guesthouse, the property manager's house, a number of accessory buildings, and dozens of irrigation pumps, all requiring a substantial amount of electricity.

The steep hillside faces due south providing maximum solar access. However, the slope of the hill when mixed with torrential rain results in what civil engineers call "subsidence" and what we more commonly refer to as "mudslides." The design response for the solar collectors was to create a field of pedestal mounted solar trackers. A single pipe support for each tracker is set into a deep footing keeping the arrays in place despite the instability of the soils. This solution was chosen instead of a single support structure with multiple foundation points because this more conventional approach would not allow for movement as the soil below shifted.

The trackers follow the sun as it rises in the east until it sets below the western horizon. Each solar tracker then returns to the east, awaiting the dawn. Because each tracker moves along two axes the solar harvest is increased by some 30% compared to a stationary mounted panel.

Solar Design Associates was responsible for the project on a turnkey basis including design, engineering and construction documents as well as permit approval and hardware procurement, through construction and systems commissioning.

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