Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Deep into the night on Thanksgiving – actually at 3 a.m. the next morning – the Palouse solar farm data quit tracking. It turned out someone or something had cut the line which transmits data from the site on a hill at the south edge of town.
It was determined it was a person with a blade of some kind because the four-inch cut was even and straight, not something that would have been done by an animal.
“The cuts were deliberate,” said Palouse Clerk/Treasurer Kyle Dixon.
After discovering the data flow halt Nov. 27, Dixon went up to the site and found everything plugged in and appearing normal. Later, Jay Larson of Pennell Consulting, Inc., the subcontractor on the solar farm, came to Palouse and traced the cord to find the cut.
Dixon later bought a replacement flat cable for $19.
Now the city will consider buying a security camera to install at the site. The cost could come out of money that was leftover from the solar farm project last year.
“We can start with some cameras, maybe a little fencing, I think that would be highly prudent,” said Palouse Mayor Michael Echanove.
The cable did not transmit electricity, just the data that tracks the panels’ production. The data meter sends information to city hall. It also can be followed on the town’s website.
Echanove said all he hoped to see on a camera would be “a lot of deer, that’s about it.”
Replacing the cable was a non-issue.“You just string another cable from point A to point B,” said Echanove.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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