PV Solar Farm Park Security System – Case Study

Project Overview and Customer Profile – Solar Park Perimeter Security System

A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed to supply merchant power.

RBtec partnered with a central European distributor to answer a growing need in the local solar farms market for an affordable solar farm perimeter Security solution based on a sensor cable to replace photoelectric beams / Active infrared barriers that have shown issues with reliability and maintenance. The country has a unique situation, the standard of solar farms is about 1km/3300ft in perimeter, and there are hundreds of them located all over the country, which faces the challenge of securing all of them at a high level but reliable.

Project description
RBtec provided perimeter security solutions for over 400 solar sites, with a total of 400km of sensor cable installed. Due to the customer’s request for an economical price to replace the photoelectric beams, RBtec provided a unique solution of extra-long zones, two zones of 500m MicAlert.

The Solution – Extra Long MicAlert Kit

RBtec understands that solar farm security system needs to be reliable, low maintenance, affordable, and, most important, have high detection capability. Solar farms are usually remote sites that need to be monitored. RBtec MicAlert intrusion detection sensor was able to answer all of those.

The MicAlert Fence Sensor was connected to the local camera system to achieve a multi-layer security solution. The fence sensor generated the alarms, and the camera system did the video verification.

Conclusions and Advantages

1. Reliability – The multi-layer fence sensor-based solution provides complete protection to the solar farm, allowing detection and verification to minimize false alarms and ease of operation.
2. Easy Installation – The MicAlert does not need training, certification, or special tools. This allowed the distributor to use multiple local integrators who had never installed RBtec perimeter security systems. Simple integration to cameras allows real-time event monitoring and managing and thus minimizing false alarms.
3. Cost-Effective – One system covering the whole perimeter saves costs both in HW and infrastructure compared to the alternatives such as infrared solutions or other fence solutions. The fence alarm system is stable in any weather and lighting conditions, has no moving parts, and therefore has significantly higher rates of MTBF – further reducing maintenance costs.