Soon hold an array of solar panels
Sitting on fresh earth, Darren O'Meara and his father, Pat, braced themselves and cranked hard on a large wrench. At work in the backyard of a Milton home, they were securing a large metal mast that would soon hold an array of solar panels vast enough to power the residence. Nearby, a Volvo excavator hoisted the hydraulic unit that would help the solar tracker follow the sun over the course of a day — maximizing the amount of electricity the array can generate.
"This really is the Cadillac of panels," said Pat O'Meara, appreciatively, pausing to wipe the dirt from his hands.
Darren O'Meara, 35, wore a light gray crewneck sweatshirt with "IBM" stenciled on it and a tool belt slung around his waist. The semiconductor test engineer is on a part-time leave of absence from his Essex employer — and he hopes, if all goes according to plan, that he'll soon be able to make his fledgling solar installation company a full-time gig. He went into business with his dad, a carpenter, last summer.
"With all the downturns and the layoffs, I just started thinking about what else could I be doing," said Darren O'Meara, reflecting on recent tumultuous years at the IBM semiconductor plant. IBM recently struck a deal to sell the plant to GlobalFoundries, which specializes in semiconductor manufacturing; the deal came after IBM cut its Essex workforce over the course of a decade by more than half, to roughly 4,000 positions.
So he started looking around — and settled on solar.