ForeFront Power installs earth-mounted Erthos solar system in California

A large solar installation in Fresno, California, is using a new type of mounting system worth knowing about, even though this particular project is a municipal water treatment plant, not a home. Developer ForeFront Power built the system for the city's Northeast Surface Water Treatment Plant using Erthos "Earth Mount Solar," which lays solar panels flat on the ground instead of propping them up on steel racks. Skipping the racking cuts material and labor costs, and the panels can follow gentle slopes up to a 15% grade, so builders don't need to grade or level the land as much.

The system is part of a larger 27-megawatt solar and battery storage buildout ForeFront Power is doing for Fresno's Dept. of Public Utilities across three city sites, which the city expects will save ratepayers over $122 million by 2045. Since starting up in late March 2026, the Erthos system has performed better than expected, generating about 101% of predicted output and already delivering 862 megawatt-hours of power. A robot called ErthBot handles cleaning the panels.

This is a commercial and municipal project, not something offered for residential rooftops or yards, but it points to where ground-mounted solar technology is heading: cheaper installation, denser power output per acre, and less site prep. If ground-mounted solar for homes ever adopts similar flat, rackless designs, it could eventually lower costs for homeowners considering their own ground-mounted systems, though no residential version or program is mentioned here.