The 3 challenges for renewable energy farm security

IS YOUR SOLAR FARM BECOMING THE NEXT TARGET TO CRIMINALS ?

As more of the countries are encouraged to move to green energy supplies, an increasing number of solar farms could still be at risk to intrusion, theft and vandalism. Solar farms are established in rural locations, sometimes with poor fence protection, normally unmanned and therefore vulnerable: these open areas can be a common target for vandals, as well as opportunistic thieves, given the market value of the technology.

WHAT DO ATTRACT THIEVES?

Apart the prosperous black market for stolen solar panels, especially in some poorer countries where it is often the only source of energy at hand, we must not forget the intrinsic value of copper used for cabling, which removal could cause severe disruption of energy supply service.

EXPLORING SOLAR FARM SECURITY: THE 3 CHALLENGES AND THEIR SOLUTIONS

1. High detection vs Low cost installation, to maximize ROI

PhV project business plans aim to optimize the Total Cost of Ownership. The lower it is, the more margin will be made on the KW/h sold. Therefore the cost of setting and maintaining the complete system is very important.

.> solution: edge technological systems

Digital mW barriers are maybe not the cheaper devices to purchase, but in the long-term ROI is higher, since they are cost-saving as far as maintainance, thanks to full immunity to extreme weather conditions, and with remote set-up function.

2. Adequate filter to electromagnetic perturbations

The inverters, that generate alternating current from the direct current supplied by the panels, generate high electromagnetic perturbations too. Bad low-cost devices will filter these perturbations very badly leaving the site unprotected.

> solution: high quality technology

High-quality certified CIAS PIDS are unaffected by those perturbations.

3. Low False Alarm Rate devices

The sites are often located in the countryside, far from areas with human presence. Therefore very reliable protection systems are needed to limit false alarms, that is to say expensive security guards interventions for nothing.

> solution: fuzzy logic digital technology

CIAS PIDS grant a False Alarms Rate near to zero and the highest Probability Of Detection on the market, thanks to evolved analysys of the signal.