6 · d e t e k t o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l
customers to make significant
savings with the camerarelated
equipment and civil works. On
top of that, thermal imaging
cameras need no lighting equip
ment whatsoever and will operate
with the same accuracy during
night and day. Last but not least,
Omega Seguridad calculated that
the overall power consumption of
a project with traditional CCTV
systems is about 50% higher
than the power consumption of a
project with thermal cameras. This
is a considerable saving on the
electricity bill of the end user.
"For distances between 60 and
120 metres that would require two
conventional cameras, but only one
thermal camera, the cost of equip
ment involved on both systems
would be equivalent," comments
Enrique Delgado Torres, engineer
and project manager at Omega
Seguridad. "For distances between
120 and 180 metres where three
conventional cameras would be re
quired, the equipment associated to
the thermal system becomes more
economical. Longer distances will
make the advantage bigger."
"The more bends and curves
a perimeter has, the more camera
positions you will need to have a
sufficiently good view," comments
Vicente Nanclares Ocio, direc tor
of the engineering department.
"Luckily for us, solar parks gener
ally tend to have straight shapes, so
this allows thermal cameras to see
even further than 180 metres." n
cameras also have a higher ac
curacy and they generate fewer false
alarms, which ultimately results in
less frustration and less workload
for the control room operator.
"Obviously, we no longer experi
ence light related false alarms,"
comments Vicente Nanclares Ocio.
"Sometimes, car headlights can set
off false alarms, but since thermal
cameras are unaffected by light,
they are also not disturbed by it.
Thermal cameras also allow us to
see better through fog. Sometimes,
the fog can be so dense that tradi
tional CCTV cameras are unable to
see through it."
Cost savings
In addition the result gives a
significant cost saving compared
to traditional CCTV cameras not
only in actual hardware but also
in power consumption. Although
a thermal camera is still more
expensive than a visual video
camera, the investment cost for
perimeter surveillance will still
be lower, since you need fewer
camera units. Fewer cameras also
means that there will be less re
quired investments for all camera
related equipment (meaning: all
equipment that is needed to get
the camera operating properly and
to get the video signal onto the
control room screen).
All these added costs need
to be made per camera unit. By
reducing the number of required
cameras, thermal imaging allows
As an increasingly important
provider of electricity across the
globe, solar parks need to be ef
fectively secured. The threats these
installations face are the same as
for any other energy producing
facility: vandalism, sabotage and
terrorism. Based on a proven track
record for perimeter protection
projects across Spain, Omega Se
guridad has also been able to offer
its expertise to solar park projects
in other European countries like
Portugal, France, Italy and now
Romania.
Largest park
The new park is the country's
largest and also one of the larg
est parks in Europe. The park
has been developed by Bester
Generación, a leader in the renew
able energy market, specialised
in the promotion, construction,
operation and maintenance of
infrastructures for the produc
tion of clean energy. It stretches
across 200 hectares and includes
some 72,000 photovoltaic panels,
amounting to 15 MW of power.
The new solar park is said to en
sure the need of energy for around
100,000 people.
The total perimeter, including
two separate confined areas of
approximately 2.1 km, could be
covered with a total number of 22
cameras. On average, this amounts
to approximately 1 thermal camera
per 190 metres. For this particular
project, Omega Seguridad relied
on FLIR's SR series of surveillance
cameras, offering high quality
thermal imaging in any night or
daytime environmental conditions.
More specifically they chiefly used
the SR313 camera with 35 mm
lens and 320 x 240 resolution,
next to the SR324 camera with 19
mm lens and 320 x 240 resolution.
The SRSeries of security cameras
provide high contrast imagery
optimised to get the most out of
video analytics software. In this
case, video analytics was provided
by Spanish company Davantis.
Less cameras
Antonio Millán Fernández, project
manager at Omega Seguridad,
explains why his company always
makes an extra effort to convince
the customer to choose thermal
imaging cameras: "Thermal
cameras can see much farther than
traditional CCTV cameras and
therefore you need less of them.
So in short: less cameras, less
issues."
According to FLIR thermal
For a new solar park, located in Sebis, Arad, Romania,
Omega Seguridad from Sevilla, Spain, installed 22
FLIR thermal imaging cameras for perimeter surveil-
lance purposes.
technology
in application
FLIRprovides
efficienciesforsolarpark
Automation and Security Products
For this particular project,
Omega Seguridad relied on
FLIR's SR series of surveillance
cameras, offering high quality
thermal imaging in any night-
or daytime environmental
conditions.