Interlocking PVC matting suggested as weed barrier on solar project piles

Nebraska-based Triple S Products has unveiled matting that can be used to defend weed growth around driven piles on ground-mounted solar projects. The company’s Weed Defender can eliminate the need for close-cut vegetation maintenance efforts on large projects.

“Last year we were approached by a solar farm construction team to develop a solution for having to weed-eat around the i-beams on their solar farm projects. As members of the solar industry know, farms can range anywhere from 100,000 piles to 250,000 piles on average. And the overall maintenance expense to weed eat around each pile is incredibly costly,” said Brady Shafer, VP of Triple S.

Over the past year Triple S developed and partnered with a U.S. manufacturer that uses 100% recycled cellular PVC to create these mats. The recycled material also comes with a 30-year warranty.

“We really checked off every box and then some,” Shafer said. “We went all over the world looking for a solution and finally found it right here in the United States. Our construction team we collaborated with wanted something environmentally friendly, so we found a manufacturer that deals with recycled materials. They needed something that will hold up for the life of the solar farm, and using recycled cellular PVC all but guarantees that our Weed Defender matting will do exactly that.”

Triple S estimates that the Weed Defender matting could save millions in maintenance costs over the lifetime of a solar array.

The matting is 3/16-in. thick and has a puzzle-piece cut that allows the mat to be added after the piles are already installed.

News item from Triple S Products