A security camera captures three intruders breaking into a solar farm at night in Til-Til, Chile.
Photographer: Cristóbal Olivares/BloombergThieves Are Stealing Chile’s Solar Panels and Cashing In on the Black Market
A solar energy boom in this narrow stretch of the Andes is marred by a wave of sophisticated theft as panels and associated copper cables disappear into black markets.
Just before midnight, two men in white coveralls and black gloves scale an electric fence at a solar farm in Chile’s Atacama Desert, then slip soundlessly into rows of sleek panels. Others use a poultry shear and electric angle grinder to breach the main gate. Three pickups without license plates pull in so the gang can load up their loot and race away.