camelot-forum.co.uk

the second raid at the site in recent months
Police are appealing for witnesses and information after [80] solar panels worth around £10,500 were stolen from an energy farm in the east of the county.

Between 10pm on Monday, August 21, and 7.50am on Tuesday, August 22, unknown offenders entered Chelveston Renewable Energy Park, at Chelveston Airfield, after cutting a gate from its hinges and driving across fields off the B645 and damaging fencing to enter the park.

Joeboy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 5:09 pm Make ye weep eh? Scum is scum anywhere. Those panels will be sold off cheap through FB marketplace, Gumtree etc.
£8,000 worth, they'll fly off the shelf.

The farm owners should have chipped the panels. Insurance will pay.
Sad stuff.

Related
https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/ ... th-africa/

In a bid to mitigate rising solar panel theft, a European company is manufacturing and intentionally ‘damaging’ solar panels specifically for the South African market.
De Jager recently met with a company representative to discuss their solar products. The representative showed him photos of their solar panels exported to South Africa, and he noticed that they all appeared broken.
“All the panels had something wrong with them – a corner that was missing or broken, cracked glass, and the like,” De Jager said. At first, he thought the damaged panels were second-hand. However, the representative clarified that they were intentionally damaged new panels.
The company purposefully produces panels that look damaged for the South African market, making them less attractive to criminals.

Joeboy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 5:09 pm Make ye weep eh? Scum is scum anywhere. Those panels will be sold off cheap through FB marketplace, Gumtree etc.
£8,000 worth, they'll fly off the shelf.

The farm owners should have chipped the panels. Insurance will pay.

Sad stuff.

Related

https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/ ... th-africa/

AlBargey wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 12:12 pm I put together an autonomous water pump and filtration system for our community orchard. It has two solar panels and is in public space in East London, so we're assuming something will happen at some point.. It's got a Eufy WiFi camera inside the cabinet as a last chance alarm.

However, I noticed the panel voltage never drops below 0.3V so I've set an alarm in the Victron VRM if the voltage drops below 0.2V someone's cut the cables! - It's on a PTP WiFi to our network so I should get notified asap and be able do something.

Surely a big solar park has cameras, sensors, and alarms on voltage to be able to act quickly!?

Joeboy wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 1:53 pm
At the risk.of bringing the lighting, two panels are unlikely to be a target. The moneys not there....

AlBargey wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 2:10 pm

Joeboy wrote: ↑Sat Aug 26, 2023 1:53 pm
At the risk.of bringing the lighting, two panels are unlikely to be a target. The moneys not there....

Well, in the Orchard we've had 5 of 15 apple tree saplings pulled up and stolen, and another one snapped in half..

Last weekend I caught two youths on a moped seconds after they'd cut through our 2 x D locks and another two locks on my electric bike and partners mountain bike. (4 in total!) This was outside a bar with a crowd watching! Luckily I'd had a few already and steamed over to them with a primal "F########K YOUUUUUU" they dropped my bike and backed off, but threatened me with the angle grinder, luckily a few in the crowd were behind me, and helped us get the bikes in the bar, moments later apparently, as the kids on the moped were driving around the block threateningly swerving at people, someone who saw what was happening drove past them and and clipped them with his mirror, they slid across the road.. Karma! all before police arrived.

Did I say I live in East London..