<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12pt">The BP oil company installed a ton of solar arrays for cathodic protection in the desert near Bakerfield in the 80s and 90s. They used Arco and Kyocera modules at ~50 watts each. They had a terrible time with theft, so they began welding the modules to the racks and the racks to the steel structures. However, the thieves persisted, by cutting the steel substructures with torches to get the modules. <br> Eventually, BP brought in the utility power. Too bad. The good thing was that I got to buy the remaining 600 used modules for a good price. <br><div> </div>Nick Soleil<br>Project Manager<br>Advanced Alternative Energy Solutions, LLC<br>PO Box 657<br>Petaluma, CA 94953<br>Cell: 707-321-2937<br>Office: 707-789-9537<br>Fax:
707-769-9037<div><br></div><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Allan Sindelar <allan@positiveenergysolar.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> RE-wrenches <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Fri, March 4, 2011 4:06:53 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [RE-wrenches] Spot welding PV's to rails for theft prevention: bad idea?<br></font><br>
<p>Mick,<br>
Direct Power did this some years ago on a piece of Interstate roadside art. I think it worked quite well to discourage theft. You might want to call DP&W for info; I'd talk with Jeff.</p>
<p>Allan at Positive Energy <br></p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 4, 2011 12:22 PM, "Mick Abraham" <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:mick@abrahamsolar.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:mick@abrahamsolar.com">mick@abrahamsolar.com</a>> wrote:<br>> Hello, we mounted some PV onesy modules as high as we could reach without a<br>
> man-lift, but an enterprising thief could reach just as high. The "side of<br>> pole" mounts hold the bolt heads captive so I bought some aluminum<br>> "breakaway" nuts. However the nuts have a big diameter which would not fit<br>
> inside the Kyocera PV frames.<br>> <br>> Has anyone tried spot welding the PV frames direct to the aluminum rails to<br>> which they are mounted? Would this over stress the glass laminate or cause<br>> other problems? I realize this would void the Kyo warranty but nothing voids<br>
> system performance like a stolen PV module.<br>> <br>> Happy Friday,<br>> <br>> Mick Abraham, Proprietor<br>> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.abrahamsolar.com">www.abrahamsolar.com</a><br>> <br>> Voice: 970-731-4675<br>
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