Solar panels, it turns out, contain a lot of valuable materials: Not only glass, aluminum, plastics, and silicon, but also recyclable amounts of silver, copper, and rare earth minerals. These materials aren’t cheap – and, like copper wire and catalytic converters, which contain platinum, they are now becoming targets for thieves.
A recent Bloomberg piece highlights just such a problem in Chile.
Just before midnight, two men in white coveralls and black gloves scale an electric fence at a solar farm in Chile’s Atacama Desert, then slip soundlessly into rows of sleek panels.”
Others use a poultry shear and electric angle grinder to breach the main gate. Three pickups without license plates pull in so the gang can load up their loot and race away. The thieves typically have less than an hour before police arrive to disable cameras, slice cables and extract dozens of panels before vanishing into the dunes. In this case, there was only one security guard, who was instructed to hide in case of an intrusion. They tied him up anyway.
This is a sophisticated, organized crime effort. They may be stealing these panels for resale, or for recycling of the valuable source materials. The why doesn’t really matter; it’s the what that’s important.
The theft of cables, panels or electronic equipment can temporarily shut down entire solar parks and cause significant economic losses,” said Erwin Plett, chief executive officer of renewable energy advisory Low Carbon Chile SpA, adding that it also drives up security and insurance costs. “Chile remains one of the most attractive renewable markets in the region, but maintaining that leadership requires ensuring the security of energy infrastructure.
That means a lot of money spent on security systems, fencing, cameras, guards, and a tight connection to local law enforcement. Oh, and guards, preferably armed guards, who have instructions other than “hide,” which is well to the left of stupid.
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Add this to the laundry list of problems with solar power; it’s intermittent, it’s expensive, it’s unreliable, it’s low density, and it takes up land that then can be used for no other purpose. Now, crime cartels are learning that in these panels, large numbers of which are found frequently in remote areas and which are lightly guarded, contain valuable materials that might be resold.
This won’t stay in Chile. We have plenty of our own home-grown goblins, as well as many added goblins who aren’t in the country legally – thanks, Joe Biden – and it’s only a matter of time before they learn of the value of the materials in these big solar farms. They are already stealing copper wire and tubing; they are already stealing catalytic converters; it’s only a matter of time before what’s happening in Chile kicks into high gear here as well. Theft is already a big problem for solar farms, and has been since at least 2020.
Consider the alternative: Nuclear power plants are enclosed, have a small footprint, and by necessity have a considerable staff – and guards. Oil and natural gas production sites and refineries are large installations with, again, large staffs, and they are, again, generally guarded; but it’s mostly the size and staffing of these installations that mitigates the possibility of theft.
Not so for solar farms, which are often in isolated places and frequently unguarded.
File this under “unintended consequences.” With all the myriad problems grid-scale solar power presents, now we see that they are, apparently, an irresistible target for thieves.
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