A solar pile driver has no fixed cost per MW: the bill comes from machine days and from the piles driven in each of them.
With a TURCHI 300F, driving one pile costs about €2-4; piles and driving come to about €35,000-55,000 per MW. Below are the cost items, the method and the figures that change the bill.
How much does a solar pile driver cost: the cost items
The purchase price of a pile driver depends on its configuration: hammer, mast, accessories. The configurator builds the quote for your site. The other items are these.
| Item | Indicative figure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Machine-only hire | €6,000-10,000 a month | plus transport and a dedicated operator |
| Hire with operator | from about €1,000 a day | varies with area and machine |
| Effective cost of hire with operator | €1,500-2,000 a day | with transport, insurance and downtime |
| Transport | €500-1,500 per leg | for every site, there and back |
| Wear parts (owned machine) | up to about €7,000 a year | heavy use on aggressive ground |
| Piles per day | 150 on average | short piles; 200-300 in optimal conditions |
| Piles per MW | 350-450 | the usual figure; one twin-pile project needed about 1,000 |
| Cost per pile | €2-4 | TURCHI 300F, with operator, fuel and depreciation; €8-15 with traditional methods |
| Piles and driving per MW | €35,000-55,000 | piles included, ground-mounted solar farm in Italy |
The hire figures come from the hydraulic pile driver guide and the hire or buy analysis; the wear parts from the TURCHI 300F maintenance guide; the cost per pile from the solar page and the cost per MW from the solar farm guide. They are market averages, not a price list: a real quote replaces them.
Cost per pile: the method
The cost per pile is the cost of one machine day divided by the piles driven that day. With short piles, the TURCHI 300F drives 150 piles a day on average, an indicative figure and not a guaranteed minimum.
- TURCHI 300F: about €2-4 per pile, with operator, fuel and machine depreciation included.
- Traditional methods: €8-15 per pile.
- Hire: divide the daily rate of the offer, transport included, by the piles the machine drives in a day on your ground.
Daily output moves the result more than the hire rate does. If hard ground or pre-drilling halves the piles per day, the cost per pile doubles. To estimate the output on your ground, see the analysis of piles per day.
Cost per MW: from piles to machine days
A 1 MW ground-mounted solar plant usually needs 350-450 piles. At 150 piles a day, that is 2.3-3 machine days per MW.
- Piles and driving: about €35,000-55,000 per MW on a ground-mounted solar farm in Italy, piles included.
- Twin-pile project, about 1,000 piles per MW: about 6.7 machine days, more than twice a usual project.
- Hire: multiply the days per MW by the daily rate of the offer.
The bill also depends on the geotechnical assessment, any pre-drilling and the crew that lays the piles out along the rows.
Hire or buy: when the sum changes
An owner pays depreciation, operator, fuel and wear parts, but no hire rate and no transport to every site. The more days the machine works in a year, the lower the cost per pile.
Break-even is measured in days of use per year, then converted into MW with the days one MW takes on your type of site. The full calculation is in how many MW pay off a pile driver.
How to redo the sum for your plant
- Piles: take the count from the project’s bill of quantities, not from an average per MW.
- Output: estimate the piles per day on your ground, with the pile length and any pre-drilling.
- Daily cost: ask for a hire offer with every item, transport included.
- Sum: piles divided by output gives the days; days times the daily cost gives the cost of driving.
For a plant of several MW, or for several sites in the same year, compare the result with a purchase quote for the TURCHI 300F for solar.
Frequently asked questions
Can't find what you're looking for? Browse the full FAQ list. Reach out via a support request or email us at commerciale@turchi.pr.it.
