Luofu Police cracked photovoltaic panel case

Did UK police find solar panels stolen from Worcestershire site?

Photo: DeterTech From pv magazine Gloval 04/23 When the UK police visited an address in Staffordshire they suspected of harboring solar panels stolen from a Worcestershire site in 2019, they not only recovered 13 modules but also found paperwork indicating planned shipments to Madrid for resale.

Are solar panels being stolen in the UK?

That figure – reported by Detective Superintendent James Taylor, head of UK serious organized acquisitive crime unit Opal – included a rise in small-scale thefts of solar panels as rising energy bills and the cost-of-living crisis bite. And the UK experience is far from unique.

How many solar panels can a thief remove?

Viamon's Strecke says organized raiders typically remove 100 panels to 300 solar panels – 10 tons’ worth at the top end. In one case, he adds, thieves removed more than 15,000 panels – 5 MW of generation capacity – in one weekend. “It is organized crime, with big logistics in the background,” he says.

How did the solar panel trade defence case turn into a political battle?

The solar panel trade defence case turned into a wider political battle when several Member States confronted the European Commission over its proposals as to how to solve these disputes.

How much property was stolen from UK solar sites last year?

Speakers at the event, held in Telford, in the west of England, appealed for solar site owners to report all incidents of criminal damage, no matter how small. Taylor said GBP 574,300 ($691,500) worth of property was reported stolen from UK solar sites last year, but noted that the real figure is likely higher.

Could Chinese PV manufacturers dump their products on the EU market?

The central claim made by EU-Prosun was that Chinese PV manufacturers could dump their products on the EU market because of the aggressive industrial policies of the Chinese government (EU-Prosun 2012). This issue was central to the whole dispute.