W-Beam Solar Piles & Posts (W6–W12)

A W-beam is the North American (AISC) hot-rolled wide-flange shape; its name gives the nominal depth in inches and the weight in lb/ft — a W6×9 is about 6 in deep and weighs 9 lb/ft. It is the counterpart of European HEA/IPE beams.

In solar it has two main jobs: posts driven into the ground on single-axis trackers, and top chords and rafters spanning long distances on fixed-tilt systems. On a tracker the post carries the rotating table, dynamic wind load and the bearing supports, so it needs a heavier section than a roll-formed pile. More on tracker steel structures.

Slots at the bearing-support and bracket connections are laser-cut or milled to the drawing, with repeatable positions across a series. Cutting to length and drilling happen in the same workflow, so posts arrive ready to bolt — no welding or drilling on site.

When galvanizing follows fabrication, slot and hole edges are coated too — no bare cut edges in the field.

We supply W-beams in ASTM A572 Grade 50 (345 MPa) and Grade 65 (450 MPa), checked against AISC 360 and ASCE 7 loads. On European projects we work to Eurocode and can supply HEA/HEB and IPE equivalents — see HEA/HEB beams.