Direct-to-ground Erthos Earth Mount Solar installation goes live at Fresno water treatment plant

A solar company called ForeFront Power has finished a new kind of solar installation at a water treatment plant in Fresno, California. Instead of mounting solar panels on posts or tracking frames, the project uses a system called Erthos Earth Mount Solar, which lays panels flat, directly on the ground. Skipping the usual mounting structure cut labor and material costs, and avoided expensive grading and steel work that a standard ground-mounted system would have needed.

The Fresno site has just over 3,100 solar panels and started running in late March 2026. So far it has produced slightly more power than expected and has delivered 862 megawatt-hours of electricity to the city. Because the panels sit on the ground, they get dirtier than typical rooftop or elevated arrays, so the system includes a robot called ErthBot that brushes the panels clean automatically at night and recharges itself between cleanings.

ForeFront Power owns the system and sells the power to the City of Fresno under a 20-year agreement at a fixed rate lower than standard utility pricing, and the company handles all maintenance at no cost to the city. This project is part of a larger 27-megawatt solar-and-battery effort across three Fresno public utility sites.

For homeowners, this isn't a technology available for houses. It's aimed at larger commercial and municipal properties with open land. But it's a sign that ground-mounted solar is getting cheaper and easier to install in flat, open spaces, which could eventually influence costs and options for larger residential solar projects too.