More and more thefts of solar modules

“Detlef Fischer recently visited a solar park again. The security measures, reports the general manager of the Bavarian Energy and Water Industry Association, have been significantly tightened there. The fence that runs around the facility is now reinforced at the top with wire and hooks, and surveillance cameras are installed on modules throughout. "The plant operators are upgrading," says Fischer. "Criminals do not avoid solar modules just because they are important for the energy transition."

It would also be a whole new form of altruism. Instead, perpetrators are becoming more and more active: According to evaluations by the State Criminal Police Office (LKA), the number of thefts from solar modules has risen steadily in recent years. The LKA recorded 44 such thefts in 2021, compared to 79 last year. By the end of March 2023, there had already been another 16 thefts. Criminals usually target solar parks, although burglaries in companies or thefts from private homes are also included in the statistics. In the end, says Fischer, electricity customers pay higher prices, partly because insurance for solar park operators is increasing.

The damage caused by individual thefts is often 20,000 to 30,000 euros - but can sometimes run into the hundreds of thousands, as was the case recently in Bubesheim in the Swabian district of Günzburg. In the night from Thursday to Friday, police headquarters in Swabia South/West reported on April 1, unknown perpetrators stole more than 400 solar modules with a total value of around 116,000 euros. The police assume that one or more vehicles with a large loading area or a truck were used to remove the modules. The thieves used special tools to unscrew the modules.

The solar parks in particular offer a large target for thieves because they are usually located in areas that are sparsely populated and difficult to see. The crux, says Fischer, is that efforts are being made to integrate the systems well into the landscape. "Often you don't even see them." According to the LKA, the security measures are all the more important, although they can hardly be aimed at making theft impossible. Above all, it is about making a theft as difficult and as cumbersome as possible. The more time it takes criminals to unscrew, load and transport the modules, the greater the risk - and the more likely it is that thieves will not even try.

The police recommend special screws and drive-through barriers

The LKA advises barn owners, for example, to avoid attachments for storing agricultural equipment or firewood and other climbing aids on roofs. Above all, however, the criminal experts are targeting the operators of solar parks: Solar modules and inverters installed outdoors, which criminals also like to steal, should be fixed with special screws so that they cannot be loosened with the help of standard tools.

As in the case of the damaging theft south of Bubesheim, perpetrators, who usually arrive in groups, need large vehicles to remove solar modules. The LKA therefore recommends massive access gates as well as natural and mechanical barriers to passage at the greatest possible distance from solar parks. If the areas cannot be reached by vehicles, theft is only possible with great effort. Simple wire mesh or wild fences are ultimately mere legally relevant borders without any protective effect. Solar park operators should upgrade here - and also consider monitoring systems that automatically alert emergency services in the event of abnormalities.

"We will have to live with this kind of theft"

After all, according to the LKA, it is worth labeling each solar module individually. And not just, as is often the case, with easy-to-remove stickers. From the point of view of the police, anyone who permanently marks community keys or street names makes it much easier to catch criminals and return the stolen goods. Detlef Fischer from the Association of Bavarian Energy and Water Industries calls on buyers of solar modules to be skeptical about cheap offers and to pay attention to labels or damage to the modules.

"We will have to live with this type of theft and learn to deal with it," says Fischer. "It will stay with us like stealing cars." Fischer assumes that many of the stolen modules will be moved abroad, making it difficult to track the devices. Bavaria is by no means the only federal state where solar modules are increasingly being stolen. Federal states close to the border such as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony and Brandenburg have been affected for some time. Fischer says: "This is a Europe-wide phenomenon."