Solar is prevailing in the Northeast following a string of passed legislation creating community solar programs in New England. States like<\/span> New Jersey, Maryland and Maine<\/span><\/a> all recently created community solar programs, and Pennsylvania may soon follow.<\/span><\/p>\n It varies by state, but many<\/span> markets<\/span><\/a> in the Northeast are still fledgling, with Maine, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont each reporting under 1 GW of total solar installed.\u00a0 The creation of these community solar programs will undoubtedly lead to development of ground-mounted solar projects, the primary setting for community arrays. The Northeast is a unique environment for such installations.<\/span> APA Solar Racking<\/span><\/a> reported that 40% of its PV structures and foundations sold are for projects in that region.<\/span><\/p>\n APA Solar Racking<\/p><\/div>\n What makes the Northeast a challenge for installers is a combination of its soil conditions, wind speeds and precipitation. The region is home to compacted soils with high presence of glacial till, cobble, boulders and bedrock, and given its longitude, the ground-mounts are also susceptible to frost jacking\/heave.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe frost in those markets is extremely deep,\u201d said Josh Von Deylen, CEO of APA Solar Racking. \u201cThose loads of a pull-out force that you would maybe see in Ohio of 3,000 pounds in Maine may be like 8,000 pounds, mainly because of the frost jacking forces, that foundation will see just a very drastic difference there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n With the heavy presence of stone, installers need to be deliberate with foundation choices, selecting solutions that can work around or through those obstructions. Von Deylen said about 90% of the foundations purchased from APA for projects in New York and New England are ground screws, which are designed for rocky soil conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn Minnesota, you might have rock, cobble and glacial till, but that\u2019s also going to be in soft soil,\u201d he said. \u201cSo potentially, you can push past it and get through it a little bit easier. The New England market has very highly compacted, very stiff soils with all this rock in it, so it makes for a very hard scenario to look at the pile-driven foundations or helical foundations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n