Energy Matters Forums

[MichaelB]

Imagine having $80k worth of solar panels stolen. It happened to a winery in California.

The panels weren't pinched in one fell swoop - the thieves came back 16 times!

We have published up a few simple tips for preventing solar panel theft - do you have any additional ideas?

[franks]

It reminds me why Telecom at the time (1980s) used 75w solarex panels, the back mount coloured orange to deter getting pintched, its seems the early days free sprit greenies took a shine to pintching Telecom PVs in remote instalations.
Was very common to loose a few panels

[franks]

Older PV panels used junction boxes for terminations, it was common to have a wire loop wired in and out of all junction boxes, the loop wired to a alarm circuit, If the panels are removed the wire loop would be broken, that would trip the alarm condition, at the control center would raise a urgent alarm to call the cops and dispactch a crew with a genset to keep the remote installation running.
For a home installation the alarm circuit could be used to drive a few sirens and strobe lights to scare the crap out of the theif