Secure your solar farm — and make stolen equipment traceable
A utility-scale solar farm concentrates copper and high-value equipment across a large, exposed site — and solar farms have become a prime target for organised theft, with cable taken first. CableID hardens your site against theft and makes every protected asset traceable back to you, so recovered equipment becomes evidence.
Request a site assessment How cable tracing works →What a single solar farm holds
Utility-scale solar concentrates copper and high-value equipment across a large, exposed site.
- PV panels and mounting systems
- DC string cables, inverters and AC cable routes
- Trenched cables, transformers and switchgear
- Battery storage and earthing infrastructure
Solar farms have become a prime target — and cable is taken first
The scale of the threat, in public figures.
South African conditions raise the risk further: remote, sprawling sites far from police response, well-established scrap and export networks for stolen copper, and a rising global copper price that makes theft ever more tempting. Only about 8% of infrastructure-crime arrests end in a conviction — and sites are often hit again within months, sometimes as soon as the replacement cable is installed.
The stolen metal is the smallest part of the loss
A cable worth around R18 in scrap can cost 30 to 40 times as much to replace and reinstall. What the thief sees is the scrap value; what the owner pays is everything else:
- Replacement material and specialist labour
- Lost generation for every day the plant is down
- Damaged equipment, and the safety risk of cut live cables
- Insurance excess, higher premiums and tighter conditions
- Repeat attacks once a site is known to be vulnerable
Fences, cameras and guards delay theft — they don’t make it unprofitable
Perimeter fencing, surveillance, guards and alarms each have a role: they delay entry, detect intrusion and raise an alert. But a determined, organised syndicate works fast and is often gone before anyone can respond. And none of these measures answers the question that decides a prosecution: once a cable or panel leaves the site, whose is it?
Without proof of ownership there is no conviction — so theft stays a high-reward, low-risk crime. That is the gap CableID closes.
Four layers of protection — from physical security to prosecution
Harder to steal · harder to sell · easier to prosecute.
Secure
Harden panels, mounting systems and cable routes. Theft takes longer, needs more tools and becomes far riskier.
Identify
Give every protected asset a permanent, patented microdot identity — one that survives fire, granulation and melting.
Register
Record every asset in CableID’s blockchain-secured register: what it is, where it is and who owns it. Owner details stay private.
Prosecute
Recovered equipment becomes court evidence. Proof of ownership turns unidentified scrap into a case that can be prosecuted.
Securing the site, where most theft happens
We harden the mounting hardware and protect the cable routes that thieves target first.
Mounting and panel frames
- Strengthened steel brackets, reinforced risers and steel angle reinforcements
- Shear nuts — the head snaps off when tightened, leaving nothing for a spanner to grip
- Fasteners placed out of easy reach, with additional fastening points
Cable routes
- DC string cables and exposed PV cable runs
- Inverter connections and AC cable routes and risers
- Trench entry and exit points, and earthing conductors
Every protected cable is also microdot-marked — so if it is stolen nonetheless, it remains identifiable and traceable to its owner.
Proven, patented and private by design
Marking that survives the worst, backed by a registered patent, a national standard and independent testing.
Patented
Protected by South African Patent No. 2016/03726 (CableID or its licensors), with further jurisdictions registered or in progress.
Standards-aligned
Compliant with SANS 1741:2018, the South African national standard for unique conductor and cable marking systems.
Independently tested
A third-party laboratory confirmed no measurable effect on a cable’s electrical performance. Test reports are available on request.
Proven marking technology
Microdots have been mandatory on every new vehicle in South Africa since 2012; marked vehicles are recovered far more often than unmarked ones.
How recovered equipment becomes a case
All it takes is a smartphone and a pocket microscope.
Inspection
A pocket microscope reveals the microdots on recovered cable or equipment.
Enquiry
The officer enters the code at cable-id.com; once it is confirmed as registered, they submit their contact details.
Notification
The enquiry reaches your registered contacts; the officer receives a confirmation by email and SMS.
Prosecution
You contact the officer, and together you bring a case of theft and infrastructure vandalism.
The first step: a site security assessment
A fixed-fee assessment of your solar farm. The report is yours to keep and act on.
Site inspection
Our specialist inspects the site together with your operations team.
Vulnerability assessment
Panels and mounting, DC and AC cabling, inverters, transformers, batteries, earthing, perimeter and access points.
Written report
Our findings and a prioritised improvement plan: what to fix first, and why.
Costed roll-out proposal
A quote for the recommended measures, which you can phase over time.
Protection costs least when it is designed in from the start — but existing sites can be secured in phases, the highest-risk zones first.
Frequently asked questions
Are solar farms really being targeted for theft?
Yes. Solar farms concentrate copper and high-value equipment on large, often remote sites, and have become a prime target for organised theft — with cable usually taken first. Hundreds of kilometres of cable have been stolen from solar farms internationally, and sites are frequently hit again within months.
What does CableID do for a solar farm?
Four things, in layers: we harden your panels, mounting and cable routes against theft; give every protected asset a permanent microdot identity; register each asset in a secure, tamper-evident ownership register; and make recovered equipment traceable back to you as court evidence.
Can stolen panels and cable be traced back to us?
Yes. Protected cables and equipment carry a permanent microdot code registered to you. A recovered asset can be matched to its owner in seconds with a smartphone and a pocket microscope, and your nominated contacts are notified.
Does the marking survive fire or melting?
Yes. The patented microdot marking is designed to remain readable even after cable is granulated, melted into ingots or exposed to fire.
Do you work with new builds or existing sites?
Both. Protection costs least when it is designed into a new build or expansion, but operating sites can be secured in phases — starting with the highest-risk zones such as cable exits, trenches and inverter stations.
Is our ownership information made public?
No. The register is private by design. Owner and contact details are never published; an enquiry routes only to your nominated contacts.
How do we get started?
With a fixed-fee site security assessment: a specialist inspection, a vulnerability assessment, a written report with a prioritised plan, and a costed roll-out proposal you can phase over time.
Secure your solar farm
Start with a site security assessment — a specialist inspection, a prioritised report, and a costed plan you can phase over time.
Request a site assessment How cable tracing works →