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Worldwide – but especially in sun-drenched regions such as the so-called Sun Belt near the equator – the number of large solar farms is growing continuously. But the environmentally friendly production of electricity and heat with solar collectors is now also booming in regions that are comparatively less sunny. In the UK, for example, more and more agricultural land is being used for the ‘cultivation’ of photovoltaic (PV) modules to harvest solar power.

However, the valuable solar modules arouse desires. Protecting installed

systems from specialised and often well-organised gangs of thieves is a complex challenge for security service providers. After all, the security-relevant objects are placed – visible to everyone – under the open sky.

Solar farms are, of course, not placed on greenfield sites completely unprotected. But many operators of on-grid PV systems have already found out that their technological assets are not sufficiently protected by fences, surveillance cameras and alarm systems alone. A fact that also

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Caught in the investigators’ GSM network

The future of solar farm security lies in communications technology. And in an optimised cooperation between security service providers and authorities. PES wanted to find out what advancements had been made at viamon since last hearing from them.

Oliver Strecke

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affects off-grid systems, such as water pumps or smaller home solar systems. The thieves usually come at dusk or at night, they are well equipped, unscrupulous, and fast, and often have well-functioning logistics and distribution networks. The biggest challenge is therefore the effective tracking of stolen collectors.

Need for new, smart solutions with long-term effect

It is difficult to quantify the annual damage caused to solar system operators and their investors by theft. ‘Insurance companies do not provide clear figures on this,’ stated Oliver Strecke, Managing Director of viamon GmbH, in an earlier PES interview in 2014. ‘In any case, it is certain that insurers have a great interest in improving security and that the issue is currently a hot topic for the entire industry.’

viamon GmbH is currently the only provider of GPS/GSM-based security systems specifically developed for solar systems. The bustling full-service company based in Kaiserslautern, Germany, relies on locating, identifying and, this is crucial, tracking the stolen goods in its security concept. By combining proven communication technology specially adapted to the use with PV modules and a service package tailored to the needs of the solar industry, the company is treading a new path.

The idea of chipped PV modules plus services is as simple as it is ingenious and

together forms a highly sophisticated, high-performance tracking system: The hardware, a smart connection box, and a modular component consisting of motion sensor, GPS sensor, GSM modem and battery, are, as mentioned above, only one part of the solution. The second part is made up of viamon’s services.

The advantages over conventional security, which relies solely on obstacles, motion detectors and video recordings, are obvious: if neither fences nor acoustic alarms have provided sufficient defence, the modules can be dismantled, loaded, and reused elsewhere faster than security services or the police can do anything to prevent this.

Often the thieves wear masks or act outside the areas monitored by CCTV, so that even highly sensitive cameras cannot provide meaningful images that would help to identify the persons involved. It is not uncommon for surveillance cameras to be put out of action simply by a cover or by force in the run-up to the theft.

But stolen PV modules do not have to be lost – as the case of a solar farm in central England demonstrates. Here viamon were able to prove that they are on the right track with their holistic approach.

The case

In December 2017, 140 Rec 260Wp modules were stolen from a large solar farm in central England at dusk. Some of them

were equipped with viamon MDS sensors, invisible from the outside. The fact that not every module had been chipped in this case has a reason: It is both more effective and cheaper to chip the modules in groups rather than individually.

Presumably the sensors were paralysed for a short time with GPS and GSM jammers, but the thieves’ joy did not last for long. Apparently, they weren’t technically skilled enough to remove the concealed sensors. Four weeks later, the stolen modules were detected with an accuracy of a few hundred metres about 20 kilometres south of the solar farm using GSM triangulation.

The successful location is a success for viamon and is, as already part of their service package, which includes not only consulting at the beginning of each project, the customer-specific use of technology, but also locating and tracking services in an emergency. As if that were not enough, the company also takes care of contacting the responsible local authorities and, if necessary, cooperates with other security service providers involved.

viamon systems are used all over the world, including in Germany, France, Austria, the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, India, China, and the Dominican Republic. The company is represented in the UK with several projects. ‘The use of our system makes sense both where we can cooperate with the authorities and

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where tracking is not guaranteed in cooperation with state authorities and private security companies are involved instead,’ explains Oliver Strecke.

Stolen PV modules are tracked by an app

viamon customers can also get an overview of the current status of their systems themselves and make sure that they are still complete – or track stolen PV modules, if necessary. Their position can be called up at any time via a web portal or a smartphone app. The transport route is recorded and all available data delivered by the implemented system is displayed on my.viamon. The personalised portal also allows customers to determine who is to be notified in the event of an alarm. Alarms can be received and further processed by the responsible staff either by text message, e-mail, smartphone app or by phone.

In the case in point, viamon employees informed the responsible police station. However, the officers only moved out several days later to secure the stolen property and did not find it at the location determined at that time.

PV module tracking with viamon’s MDS currently possible for up to one year

However, viamon was not discouraged by this. ‘Sometimes it’s a cat-and-mouse game,’ declares Oliver Strecke. ‘But we are definitely the ones with more staying power.’ The chipped modules can be tracked worldwide via GSM and GPS over a long period of time, as they recharge their batteries whenever there is light.

A new generation of sensors is currently being developed that has an even longer service life than the sensors used today – but in this case, the service life of the cells was more than sufficient. After another six weeks, the stolen modules were detected again via GSM in Cornwall.

Again, the viamon team immediately informed the local police, who immediately moved out and found the ‘hot stuff’ installed on the roof of a warehouse. The owners were charged but claimed not to have been involved in the theft because they purchased their PV system on eBay. Police are still investigating – currently the seller on eBay. Retrieval operations were still running at the copy deadline.

‘Despite some hurdles, it has become clear that the chances of tracking down stolen modules and returning them to their owners

with the viamon system are considerably higher than with the exclusive use of conventional security technology such as fences and video recordings,’ adds Oliver Strecke. ‘The effectiveness of our technology extends over all phases of a potential or actual theft. viamon’s system is pre-emptive, reactive, and supportive. Its greatest advantage lies in the possibility of tracking the stolen property long-term.’

Continuous development at all levels

The staying power is therefore also a hallmark of the company. This is not only evident in the fact that the boss himself has travelled to the UK several times to push for the clarification of the above-mentioned case. Another example is viamon’s development team that works on the sensitivity of the sensors used for each customer until they are optimally adjusted to the ambient conditions on site. This means until no sheep or wild animal grazing between ground-based modules can trigger a false alarm – while at the same time the chips remain sufficiently sensitive.

Optimisation is known to be an ongoing process. The team in Kaiserslautern is currently intensively evaluating the latest experiences. The development of a new GSM monitor, which can reliably detect changes in GSM radio signals and thus trigger an alarm immediately in the event of jamming, is already in full swing. In addition, MDS sensors in the PV module and inverters will support jamming detection.

A new generation of sensors will provide even more safety. And like all tasks, viamon also addresses the issue of interfering transmitters on more than one level. In questions concerning the GSM connection detection attempts, viamon cooperates with Deutsche Telekom. This cooperation could help find a useful fall-back solution for cases where GSM jamming messages do not occur, even when jammers are used.

Security solutions for the solar industry require holistic concepts

For viamon, such cooperation, which is also maintained with operators, security professionals, authorities, and insurers, is essential for the success of their own solutions. Coordination with other security service providers is important to develop viable overall concepts for every customer, emphasises Oliver Strecke. ‘On the other hand, there are, of course, areas over which we have no direct influence. For example, the work of the law enforcement authorities

or – as in the example described – if the stolen goods were possibly sold via portals such as eBay.’

What is important to him, underlines Strecke, is that his company continuously engages in gentle pressure where convincing or lobbying efforts are required. If Facebook today must take political and perhaps also a legal responsibility for their data policy, why should providers like eBay not be held responsible for not preventing illegal sales in the future?

‘Security solutions for the solar industry require holistic commitment. However, our focus is of course on the further development of our own solutions, which can become more and more anticipatory based on the experience we are constantly gaining,’ Oliver Strecke continues. ‘Our goal is to reduce the cat-and-mouse game to a single, fast seizure with the help of our smart viamon sensor boxes and our services – before the mouse has disappeared into the hole.’

www.viamon.com

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About viamon

viamon produces and sells security systems for photovoltaic power plants. The company’s customised systems consist of self-developed hardware and alarm response services to secure and optimise the production sites of renewable energy. viamon works with EPCs, power plant operators (O&M), major global insurance companies and PV module manufacturers to secure both large multi-MW power plants and smaller dedicated solar systems. viamon is one of the very few companies that focus on the protection of PV modules and inverters.

With their GPS-based geo fencing anti-theft system, viamon were the first to develop an integrated monitoring solution for photovoltaic power plants.

Since 2011, their technology has been applied in Germany, France, Austria, the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria, Chile, India, China, and the Dominican Republic and secures more than 500 MWp of installed power.

In the UK, viamon is currently represented with 300 MWp.