Photovoltaic project anti-theft system

The capital cost of solar photovoltaic projects could reach a huge amount of millions of dollars, and it will take years to build. Developers want to reap the most benefits from their investments, but the growing theft of and destruction of solar technology is threatening that return.

While it is hard to produce accurate numbers, even the most conservative estimates put theft damage reaching millions of dollars a year. In the UK, for example, in a robbery in 2019 alone, stolen solar modules from a project were worth more than £900,000 ($1 million), and organised crime related to solar projects was on the rise.

An emerging way of project security is to use drone patrols. While automated drones have high upfront costs, they can perform prearranged autonomous security patrols to improve security without additional costs.

The " box drone technology will be widely used by 2030. This refers to the drone located in the solar project protection box, with automatic landing, take-off and wireless charging functions. They can be programmed to regularly check the site performance and security conditions, without manual control or supervision.

Moreover, in response to usually inadequate response times, drones can be triggered by peripheral sensors and cameras on fences that can transmit drone responses in the form of alerts, flying over potential security vulnerabilities. You can even install speakers on unmanned machines to announce their presence to the invaders. Given the increase in effectiveness, they can lower the premiums.

Currently in the energy sector, the market for driver-less aviation systems and drones for critical energy infrastructure was valued at $1.4 billion last year. The value of this market is expected to grow to $10.6 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 24.9%.