By David Kilby, Staff Writer
CRANBURY — A new solar panel “farm” soon will be constructed on the roofs of four warehouses in the Prologis Planned Industrial Park on Santa Fe Way in Cranbury, but the Cranbury Planning Board is concerned about the impact the project will have on the visual landscape of the area.
The solar farm will include 21,000 solar modules covering more than 1 million square feet, making it among the largest single solar projects in North America.
Cranbury Solar 1 LLC, the company formed specifically for this project, received approval for the solar farm from the Planning Board at its meeting April 21.
Recurrent Energy, an international solar power company based in San Francisco, California, is directing the project from its East Region offices in Ithaca, New York.
With most of its projects in California, the company has a total of two gigawats of solar energy in its development pipeline, according to the website www.recurrentenergy.com. The seven million kwh generated per year by the 21,000 rooftop panels in the Cranbury Solar 1 project will not be consumed on site but will go to the PSE&G electric distribution system.
Robb Jetty, recurrent energy director of east region development, explained the to the Planning Board what this large solar project will involve.
He said Cranbury’s Master Plan encourages the construction of new projects that provide renewable energy and said the solar farm will have very little impact on the visual landscape of the area since the solar panels won’t even be visible to the public.
The solar panels, however, were not what concerned the Planning Board.
”The applicants are also proposing to install conduits from the solar panels to a series of solar inverters, which would be located on concrete pads adjacent to the side or to the rear of all buildings,” wrote Richard Preiss, township planner, in a memo to the board regarding the project.
As it reviewed the application, the board wanted to be sure the solar inverters would not be visible from Half Acre Road.
The conduits will transfer power from the panels to the inverters and will be covered with metal that matches the warehouse buildings.
Two of the buildings will have one inverter, and the other two buildings will have two inverters.
Mr. Preiss said the infraction of the inverters will be “of a de minimus nature” and “should not have a substantial impact on the surrounding properties or on the aesthetics of the building.”
He was concerned with the visual impact of the inverters, though, since they will be encased in 8-foot-high enclosures so he suggested the applicant provide examples of the colors of these enclosures to ensure they match the nearby buildings.
Mr. Jetty said he would be willing to work with the township engineer to screen any equipment that would be visible from the public right of way.
However, the equipment has to be accessible to public services such as the Fire Department in case of an emergency so the types of shrubbery Cranbury Solar 1 can place around the equipment are limited.
Allan Kehrt, chairman of the board, explained why the board was being meticulous about its requirements.
”(Cranbury) is a nice place because we are fussy,” he said.
”Everyone on the board is looking at this and saying, ‘We’re going to get a lot more of these,” he said, adding the requirements it places for this project most likely will set a precedent for similar projects in the future.
Cranbury Solar 1 LLC is leasing the four roofs the solar panels will be placed upon. The solar panels would not be visible from the road.
The board approved the application provided all permanent equipment is hidden from the public right of way.

