Ermo 482XPro for protection of PhV plants

Total Protection is the best choice for photovoltaic field security

The requirement

A 9.4 Megawatt photovoltaic field in the province of Turin, North of Italy, needed the highest possible level of protection on the market and asked the builder of the plant, Sicurtel to propose a solution. After formulating a design plan for the property, the client asked Sicurtel to fulfill the requirement.

"The client asked for a solution whereby the network infrastructure was sturdy and scalable and all elements operate simultaneously including the security system, the video-surveillance system and the other equipment used to monitor electricity production. Moreover, to comply with provincial laws, the video-surveillance system had to ensure low luminous impact at night meaning, it had to operate satisfactorily without any lights on, except in exceptional circumstances." explains Claudio Toaldo, owner of Sicurtel.

The challenge

With a perimeter length of 4,000 metres, and potential electromagnetic interference caused by 12 inverters installed on the field, Sicurtel constructed a closed-loop fibre optic Ethernet infrastructure using o-ring technology with 12 field switches. All systems needed to be operational on an open IP platform, in poor visibility conditions and an extended temperature range of -40°C/+75°C.

The solution

28 CIAS ERMO 482X PRO microwave barriers + 11 Ulisse Compact IP 36 + Videotec 110mt IR cameras were installed to give full protection. The CIAS barriers are connected in the field through 15 x 485/Ethernet IB-FMCREP-ETH converters and controlled by an IB-System IP server. The Videotec cameras used for surveillance guarantee the lowest environmental impact during night-time monitoring and are also fitted with a powerful optical zoom lens for close-up inspection when necessary, eg. if triggered by the barrier’s pre-alarm threshold.

Sicurtel chose the Milestone XProtect® system due to its fully integrated platform able to manage all of the field equipment on an IP platform. The client was highly satisfied with the