At the recently held REI Expo 2024 in India, many companies showcased innovative solutions tailored for India’s growing gigawatt (GW) scale PV projects alongside mainstream PV products – such as PV modules, encapsulants, backsheets, and cells. Ground Screw Company, a fairly new Indian company, promoted its ground anchor system – a helical screw based on galvanized steel, suitable for ground-mounted PV installations.
During a one-on-one conversation with TaiyangNews, Prasad Bhagare, the founder of Ground Screw Company, shared brief insights into ground screw technology and its advantages over conventional concrete-based installations.
Installation-friendly
This ground screw, a prefabricated big-size metal helical screw, is driven into the soil to make the metal pile foundation for the erection of the module mounting structure (MMS). The company says that it takes 2 minutes to erect each ground screw foundation on different types of soil in India, including clay, hard soil, rocky soil, and soft soil. This fast-paced installation without any concrete, water, or curing time ensures the cost-effectiveness, quality, and reliability of this solution. The company also added that the Ground Screw technology offers consistency in rapid MMS structure erection, while the conventional concrete-based foundation system depends on unorganized and unskilled labor.
This metal piling foundation solution also has significant utilization in Agrivoltaics PV installations. It avoids the usage of concrete, chemicals, or extensive soil disruption, leading to a sustainable installation solution by mitigating the risk of lifelong sipping of cement and calcium carbonate into the soil, explained Bhagare.
Product and technology background
This product, featuring a 2” or 3” diameter metal helical screw, is a technology that was developed by the Technical University of Munich under the department of defense engineering between 1960 and 1970. After being largely adopted in China’s PV installations in 2006, this technology was popular for Chinese and European soil conditions, says the company. After analyzing India’s wide array of soil types and getting some technology transfer from the University, the company developed India-specific ground screw products. The company says it offers application-specific customized ground screws, such as solar pumps or street light foundations depending upon the soil type.
.png?w=50&fm=png){kind=logo}