SolarCity To Erect Netting To Protect Solar Panels From Home Runs

New York Yankees radio announcer John Sterling has a pretty good home run call: “It is high. It is far. It is … gone!”

While that is exciting for a call at Yankee Stadium, home runs don’t garner much excitement for SolarCity and its solar array behind town hall — just past the outfield fence of the town’s recreational softball field. Since the 1,118 panels were installed in 2013, a large number of solar panels have been destroyed by the long ball of the slow-pitch softball players that go more than 25 feet over the outfield fence and into the panels.

Town Manager Richard J. Johnson said a combination of newer bats and balls that go farther have shown the need to install protective netting along the field’s outfield fence. During a recent visit, about a dozen solar panels with circular smash marks in them were piled next to a generator.

“When it was put in, SolarCity said to us, ‘We are going to see what the softballs do to the panels.’ And there’s some long ball hitters in the softball league. So they need to put up some protective fencing … We don’t have much of a choice. That’s a significant investment. But they wanted to see how it would work and they are losing some panels.”

Johnson said 30-foot-high poles will be installed behind the fence along with black nylon netting. The fencing will be paid for by SolarCity. The town signed a 20-year agreement with the company, which has also placed thousands of panels at Glastonbury High School and the town garage.

“It’s a black nylon that will pretty much disappear. It’s about as aesthetic as we can get it,” Johnson said.

 

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