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The telemetry from a solar system includes the power being consumed in real-time, which can be used to infer occupation of the premises. Data brokers accumulat
by Nextgrid 4y ago
The telemetry from a solar system includes the power being consumed in real-time, which can be used to infer occupation of the premises.
Data brokers accumulate various bits of data that are unreliable and useless on their own but in aggregate they can be used to "connect the dots". If an IP address & user agent pair or tracking cookie only lights up when the solar system detects significant power draw suggesting someone is at home, you can tie a pseudonymous IP or tracking cookie to the solar system data which presumably would include name or some other bit of identifying info.
Now repeat that with all the other information you've got and you're able to paint a very detailed profile off someone.
- qqqwerty 4y agoEveryone in this sub-thread is shifting the goal posts. There is no requirement that solar inverters need to be aware of household power consumption. You can certainly set that up if you want, but an installation in its most basic form would not include that feature. You simply connect the inverter to the house panel and what you don't use flows back through your utility meter and onto the grid. And again, the solar data by itself is going to be nearly useless as it is entirely a function of the irradiance on the panels, and does nothing to reveal customer behavior.