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I don't expect the panels to be the first things taken. The battery bank and inverter however, which are easily put invisibly to use by anyone even your neighb

I don't expect the panels to be the first things taken. The battery bank and inverter however, which are easily put invisibly to use by anyone even your neighbor, are quite the prize. I'm not sure it's all that unusual a case. Solar is especially relevant to remote off-grid homes. Unfortunately, these are also prime targets for theft as they're often left unattended for long periods with distant neighbors. Denser populations have a grid, and can just have a large solar installation powering that grid on a large scale. It's a problem. Solar puts expensive infrastructure on-site, it's a mini power station.

danans 8y ago
> I'm not sure it's all that unusual a case. > Solar is especially relevant to remote off-grid homes. Unfortunately, these are also prime targets for theft as they're often left unattended for long periods with distant neighbors. Remote off grid homes are a very unusual case. Not saying there is no demand from that segment, but even there is a higher rate of demand from it, it's a small segment of the market vs urban/suburban rooftop solar, and I wouldn't expect major manufacturers and installers to optimize for it. > Denser populations have a grid, and can just have a large solar installation powering that grid on a large scale. That's already happening today. However people choose to have rooftop domestic solar for many reasons ... to fix the long term cost of their electricity consumption, to offset peak power rates, etc. > It's a problem. Solar puts expensive infrastructure on-site, it's a mini power station. In situations where site security is a problem, presumably custom solutions can be put in place by installers to ensure security of the inverters and batteries. It may cost more, but that's sort of the price paid for owning property in a sparse, remote location.

danans 8y ago

> I'm not sure it's all that unusual a case. > Solar is especially relevant to remote off-grid homes. Unfortunately, these are also prime targets for theft as they're often left unattended for long periods with distant neighbors. Remote off grid homes are a very unusual case. Not saying there is no demand from that segment, but even there is a higher rate of demand from it, it's a small segment of the market vs urban/suburban rooftop solar, and I wouldn't expect major manufacturers and installers to optimize for it. > Denser populations have a grid, and can just have a large solar installation powering that grid on a large scale. That's already happening today. However people choose to have rooftop domestic solar for many reasons ... to fix the long term cost of their electricity consumption, to offset peak power rates, etc. > It's a problem. Solar puts expensive infrastructure on-site, it's a mini power station. In situations where site security is a problem, presumably custom solutions can be put in place by installers to ensure security of the inverters and batteries. It may cost more, but that's sort of the price paid for owning property in a sparse, remote location.