The Herefordshire solar farm is a multi million pound solar farm that provides power to the national grid. AVA Security & Communications recommended and installed the new security systems, comprising more than 25 of the active infrared REDNET perimeter detectors from OPTEX Europe, which are located every 50 metres.
The Herefordshire solar farm, located near Hoarwithy, is a multi million pound solar farm that provides power to the national grid. The remote site is predominantly unmanned and has a two kilometre perimeter.
To prevent the theft or damage of solar panels, the Herefordshire farm required a security system which could detect any intrusion on site and transmit alarms and live images to a remote video monitoring centre, which then verifies the situation and takes action accordingly. The new perimeter protection system had to be able to accommodate wildlife and environmental changes, as sheep are roaming around the site and could trigger false alarms. So could vegetation sway and change in weather. It was critical for the site owner to have the lowest false rate while keeping the catch performance rate to a maximum.
AVA Security & Communications recommended and installed the new security systems, comprising more than 25 of the active infrared REDNET perimeter detectors from OPTEX Europe, which are located every 50 metres. It utilises a 16 beam ‘net' configuration to provide high level detection capability and can be configured to drastically decrease the level of nuisance alarms. In this case two months after the installation was completed the monitoring centre received 300 times fewer false alarms than it would expect for a site of such site and complexity. The outstanding performance of the intrusion detection system helps improve the efficiency of the monitoring centre which can focus on investigating genuine alarms.