Insurance and Animal Rights
As the market continues to grow, a driver for more advanced security systems will be insurance. Another growth factor is the desire for a minimal effect on the natural wildlife and habitats surrounding these sites.
Insurance will advance the level of security required on renewable energy farms in the future . “Investments that can total up to $1 billion must be protected, and it must be protected in order to be insured. Still, only the minimum level of security will be implemented to help mitigate risk, rather than provide high-level security,” Katz said. “This is because it is still too early in the game to confirm if high-level security is needed, or if a lot of damage is being done — unfortunately, security will always grow on the study of previous cases. Once large-scale damage occurs — either due to terror, theft or vandalism — regulations will become tighter.”
Animal-rights activism will also advance the installation of better radar and perimeter systems. “A solar installation in Southern California was shut down because it interfered with the habitat of a specific species of turtles. Another wind farm ran into issues because the propellers on the turbines were killing falcons, which are Environmental Protection Agencyendangered birds,” Scifers said. “In the U.S., construction of solar farms are extremely regulated. One farm went through numerous meetings and ended up with a 650-page document regarding the erection and maintenance of the site. It is exponentially easier in Europe and Canada compared to the U.S.”
New technology may be the answer for renewable energy farms. “Response from environmental groups is getting louder due to the high number of birds being killed on a regular basis by the wind turbines. Their voices are going to weigh more and more heavily over the next few years,” Putnam said. “For now, in the U.S., avian radar systems are set up to shut down the turbines until the birds leave, but this affects the productivity of the site due to shutdown costs and no energy is being produced when the birds are around. Research is being done now to deter birds and animals from entering the farm area completely, using long-range acoustic devices.”
It will take some maturation time to determine concrete security needs for renewable energy farms. Yet this is a space that should be noted due to the fast-paced growth of such farms and the numerous security needs that will develop within the next decade. Investments continue to pour in and these investments must be protected — with a little help from capable electronic security systems.