France: 500 Kilometers of Copper Cables Stolen from Solar Power Plants, Six Arrested

French security authorities have put an end to the activities of an organized gang that targeted solar energy facilities in the southwest of the country, after seizing more than 500 kilometers of copper cables, causing massive financial damages estimated at over one million euros and frequent disruptions to electricity generation.

Extensive Investigations and Six Arrests

The National Gendarmerie mobilized more than a hundred officers as part of a four-month investigation to track down those involved in looting a photovoltaic power plant in the town of Saint-Germain-d’Esteuil in the Gironde department. The operation led to the arrest of six Romanian men, aged between 19 and 45, who were remanded in pre-trial detention by judicial order.

Organized Criminal Modus Operandi Across 13 Sites

Investigations revealed that the network targeted 13 solar power plants distributed across Gironde and five neighboring departments. The judiciary at the Bordeaux court explained that the gang members employed a well-coordinated method based on carrying out nocturnal raids and sabotaging fences surrounding isolated sites located inside forests and far from residential areas to cut and pull out the cables running beneath the panels.

Regarding the fate of the stolen goods, Captain Dorine Weisgerber, deputy commander of the Lesparre-Médoc gendarmerie company, stated that the perpetrators typically rushed to burn the plastic sheathing to extract pure copper metal and sell it through dedicated channels the following morning, or store it in alternative locations until buyers were found.

Record High Copper Prices and Energy Sector Concerns

These operations are driven by quick financial gains, as copper prices on global markets have doubled over the past five years, currently approaching 13,000 euros per ton. This has made solar plants a primary target for trafficking networks due to their vast areas and the difficulty of round-the-clock monitoring despite the presence of cameras.

For his part, Christophe Thomas, vice president of the solar commission at the Renewable Energies Syndicate, expressed the concern of industry workers, emphasizing that "the surge in these thefts directly and adversely affects plant production volume and causes severe damage to technical equipment." Official gendarmerie data in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region indicates a record high of more than 400 copper thefts registered since the beginning of this year.