Solar, geothermal and hot water
Residential Solar and Geothermal
Bifacial panels, net metering, geothermal and solar hot water, with the trench and racking dug by the same crew that sets the ground.
When the trench is an afterthought
A solar array is a dirt job before it is an electrical one. Something has to be dug for the run back to the building, something has to hold the racking true, and the ground under the panels has to stay put. When those steps go to whoever shows up last, the racking ends up where the trench could not reach.
Tom Oesch and his operators run Hitachi excavators every working day out of Atlanta, Michigan. The trench is dug for the ground that is actually there, not the ground on a drawing.
Ground-mount solar array standing in an open field
Trench, racking and panels, one crew
We do residential solar installs, including bifacial panels, which catch light on both faces. Our crews handle the trenching and the racking, so the person who dug the ground is the person who knows where the posts and the feed line sit.
The same crews tie the system to net metering, so what the array makes is credited against what the house pulls. We also do geothermal installs and solar hot water, and we set up EV charging from the sun.
Free estimates on all of it. Tell us what you are picturing for the yard and we will walk it with you.
How long the panels last
Panels are warrantied for 25 to 30 years, and they typically last 30+. That is a long time to live with a trench line and a racking pad, so the dirt work gets the same care as the panels.
When the work is done, the trench is backfilled and graded over, and the ground around the array is left ready for grass.
Free estimates on every solar and geothermal job. Call (989) 742-1003 and ask for Tom Oesch.
Three parts of one array
The feed trench, the racking and the finished lawn array, in the order they go in. Same machines and same crew from the first cut to the last pass of the grader.
Planning a house, a barn or a camp on the same lot? Our land clearing and trench work gets the ground ready first.
01
Trench cut for a ground-mount solar array 02
Steel racking set for the panels 03
Ground-mount array on a residential lawn