An often overlooked aspect of the PV sector, module theft is becoming increasingly common – particularly in rural
or remote areas. We spoke to Oliver Strecke, Managing Director of monitoring company Viamon, to discover what can be done to counter the problem.
PES: Welcome to PES magazine. Would you like to take this opportunity to explain a little about the company and how you serve the PV industry?
Oliver Strecke: Viamon’s Headquarters is located in Germany. Our roots are in Security, Machine Controls and Internet of Things (IOT). Our anti-theft system secures power production and investments, and we want to maximise the profit of our customers. Viamon is one of the very few companies that focuses on securing PV Modules. In addition, we strongly support the idea of smart junction boxes since our theft protection and performance monitoring devices are hidden inside those boxes.
PES: What is your target market?
OS: Our target market is straightforward: any PV power plant. Currently we secure mainly ground mounted PV power plants in remote areas, and both on-grid and off-grid systems. We also secure dedicated PV-modules for small energy systems that are of a high value where mains power is not fully available (e.g. water pumps, solar home systems or mobile network transmission masts).
PES: Just how big a problem is PV security? And what usually happens to the modules after they have been stolen?
OS: Insurance companies won’t give you figures, but we know that the problem is far larger than you might initially think. In general it is very easy to steal PV-modules in a remote area: thieves usually come at night time.
During this time cameras won’t deliver any detailed pictures and power readings are at their lowest level. Fences and suchlike are not much of a barrier for true criminals.
In remote areas they usually have all the time in the world to unmount the PV-modules and load them onto a truck. Once the theft is discovered, the modules might be already installed somewhere else. Sometime the serial numbers of stolen modules can be found in databases. But there is always a way to sell stolen goods. The probability to find a stolen module once it crossed a border is very limited.
