The project, East Windsor Solar One, reveals the limits of what state and local officials can do if problems arise with solar farms once they are in place. The Connecticut Siting Council sets the conditions for their approval, and those conditions are enforceable. But this case fell into what appears to be a gray area. Solar panels themselves are silent, but the equipment that connects them to the grid can produce noise, similar to any electrical transformer such as the cylinder-shaped enclosures that sit atop utility poles. Sound can also come from inverters, which convert the DC power generated by solar panels to AC power that can be used on the grid. The simplest, least-cost way to ensure that noise is not audible to neighbors of a solar development is to site the equipment on a non-noise-sensitive property line, such as away from houses, said Michael Bahtiarian, a principal at Acentech, an acoustical consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who has worked on a number of solar projects.
Neighbor dispute risks souring a Connecticut community on solar energy