Quote:
Originally Posted by xelasnave
I have looked onto a rotating system but oddly enough, although there is 100 acres, there is no room for a mast within reasonable distance from the house and I would not mount it on the house as it does get windy on top of the hill where the house is...
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He didn't put it on a mast - he made a frame which is mounted on a slew ring from an old excavator, which is mounted on the ground - minimal footings required, because there is plenty of weight in the excavator slew ring and the frame. I think he just filled some old 200-litre drums with concrete and stuck the posts into them.
A motor slews the whole array every few minutes, and a hydraulic cylinder (from the same old excavator) raises and lowers the altitude of the array, so it follows the sun through the day. He can't raise the panel to vertical (as would required for optimal efficiency at sunrise and sunset) - from memory, it can go from about 25 to 45 degrees altitude - but he can get good power all day because it can point east and west as required, and it can rise to a steeper angle than a static solar panel array.
All built using his basic welding / handyman skills, and calling in a few favours from his mates when he needed a bit of muscle power. (Wine-makers rarely have trouble getting a few friends over for assistance!) His background as an engineer helped with working out the algorithms and automatic control system to get the tracking system working.
Bear in mind that this array powers his house and the whole winery (including a very large insulated cool-room) - your needs would presumably be rather more modest.