> Anecdotally speaking
replyFirst hand experience here - worked with a non-profit that has a tiny solar and battery installation for a light display, and we have had constant theft and vandalism problems with it. It's not even easy to get to - those meth-heads had to work to steal the lead acid batteries and copper wire...
And the one thing California absolutely will not do is put these people in jail.
replyA company nightwatchman making $20/hr would cost about $80k/yr, all in.
replyOne prisoner costs the California taxpayer $125k/yr, all in.
Maybe the company should foot the bill for a security guard instead of asking the taxpayers to subsidize their business.
24/7 coverage 365 days a year at 20$/h = 175,200$/year.
reply>Junkies will find ways through the fencing at night
replyYour math implies polar winter. Solar would be a bad investment.
You can’t assume behavior is unchanged when you change the situation.
replyIn remote areas if you only guard at night they will go in the day.
Your takeaway is that every solar installation, regardless of size, now has an $80k/year minimum cost associated with its' mere existence because California can't get its' house in order?
replyCitation needed that this problem is unique to California.
replyThis implies that vandals only attack one business, instead of being a public nuisance or menace to everyone.
reply>solar farm in an undeveloped area
replyLooks like the vandals will have to move along to somewhere else to score some copper.