For three months, residents in Westborough have been watching the installation of a solar panel farm under the Milk Street Bridge near the plaza at 108 Milk Street (where Robinson Music is located) on Route 135. The field of glass has been a curiosity for drivers of the stretch between the downtown rotary and Route 9.

Dan Greenwood, Manager of Business Development for SolarFlair Energy, Inc. of Framingham shed some "light" on the interest surrounding the panels, sharing with Westborough Patch that SolarFlair was contracted to design and install the standalone solar farm by Westborough businessman Bruce Forrestall.

"We broke ground in October and should be connected [to National Grid] in one to two weeks time. National Grid still has to install poles and power lines, about one day worth of work most likely," Greenwood said, adding that "the output electricity will flow directly from the solar farm through to the grid."

Greenwood added that Forrestall has received positive results from the 2008 installation of a 20-kilowatt solar panel system on the roof of his Westborough Car Wash and Detailing business on Rt. 9.

"The solar generation farm was the perfect fit. It's a good use of that two acre piece of land since it is not attractive to builders for residential development, and it is wide open and has plenty of light," he said.

Jim Robbins, Westborough Town Planner, told Westborough Patch that "Mr. Forrestall received all town permits and met appropriate zoning bylaws, and it was a smooth process." Robbins added that Forrestall also "had to get Conservation Commission approval because of wet land sites nearby."

The project, estimated at $2M, was eligible for "green" rebates including a Federal Stimulus 1603 Treasury Grant and the Massachusetts Solar Renewable Energy Certificate program.

According to a SolarFlair press release provided by Greenwood, the 240 kilowatt renewable energy generation plant is comprised of 856 panels and is connected to the utility grid. It will convert the natural energy of the sun to clean reliable electricity. The energy generated will be applied to company owner Bruce Forrestall's utility accounts for the businesses and residential developments he owns in the area.

The system will produce 8.28 million kilowatt hours displacing 7.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. That much clean energy is equivalent to powering 45 typical homes for 30 years or driving 400,000 miles in an SUV.

By Susan Smith | January 6, 2011