Solar for mobile and manufactured homes

Manufactured homes built to the federal HUD code use engineered trusses sized to carry the roof, its snow load and not much else. Adding 3–4 pounds per square foot of panels and racking, plus the concentrated point loads at each attachment, often exceeds what the truss and its fasteners were rated for, and there is rarely documentation to prove otherwise. Metal or membrane roofing over thin decking makes flashing penetrations unreliable, too.

Some newer manufactured and modular homes are built to the state residential code with conventional framing, and those can sometimes carry an array with an engineer’s letter. We evaluate case by case, but the default assumption is no roof mount, and no amount of wanting it changes the truss.

If the home sits on your own lot or acreage, a ground mount solves the structural problem completely. A 5–8 kW array on a pile or ballast rack near the home, trenched to the service panel, produces the same as a roof system and is easier to keep clear of snow. Ground mounts cost more per watt than roof mounts because of the racking and trenching, so expect the upper end of our $2.80–$3.25 range or slightly above for small systems.

The service size matters. Many manufactured homes have a 100- or 150-amp panel and a pedestal meter outside. Solar backfeed into a 100-amp panel is limited by code, so a system above roughly 4–5 kW may need a panel upgrade or a supply-side connection at the meter pedestal. We check that during the site visit; it’s a common add-on cost on these homes.

Snow and wind are the design factors on the Eastern Plains and in the San Luis Valley, where a lot of Colorado’s manufactured housing sits. Ground mounts get engineered for the local wind speed, and low racks need enough ground clearance for snow to slide off without piling against the panels.

In a manufactured-home community, you own the home and rent the ground. That leaves nowhere to put a ground mount without the park owner’s written permission, and the roof usually can’t carry panels. A few parks allow small carport or awning-mounted arrays; most don’t address it at all, and Colorado’s HOA solar-access law (C.R.S. 38-30-168) applies to covenants on property you own, not to a landlord’s lease terms.

If your park owner is open to it, the questions are: where the array goes, who owns it if you move the home, and how the lease treats improvements. Without clear answers, we’d rather tell you it doesn’t work than install something you can’t take with you or sell.

Financing is where manufactured homes hit friction. The Colorado RENU loan and our other lender options are secured against the borrower, not the land, so they’re available, but a home titled as personal property rather than real estate can complicate lien and appraisal questions. A lease or PPA requires an owned site the provider can rely on for 20–25 years, so those are usually limited to owned-land situations.

Then there’s the bill. Manufactured homes are often small and modestly used; a $70/month bill in a co-op territory with annual true-up may not justify a $15,000–$20,000 ground mount, even with the state’s rates rising. We run the numbers with your actual usage and your utility’s credit rules and tell you the payback in years. If it’s past 15, we say so and suggest waiting or looking at cheaper efficiency measures first.

Where it does pencil: an owned lot, a 150-amp or larger service, a bill over $120/month, and an IOU like Xcel or Black Hills with full retail net metering. That combination is common in the Front Range exurbs and produces the same 20–25 year savings as any site-built home.