- Coming up on this week's news, rogue traders are damaging the market for solar panels, heat pumps, and other renewable technologies, says "Which?" magazine and a group of top organisations. We reveal weird and wonderful applications for solar panels, and more details emerge about the death of celebrity electrician George Gilbey. Welcome to "Electrical News Weekly" in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Whether you're listening in the van, onsite or down at the wholesale counter, I'm Joe Robinson and I've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble. And if you think you've spotted the two words that I've been challenged to slip into this week's show, comment with them below for the chance to win a prize. Rouge traders are damaging the market for solar panels, heat pumps, and other renewable technology. That's the view of a group of organisations, including "Which?" magazine, Citizens Advice, Nationwide Building Society and Energy UK. They say that the often bad experience of early adopters of these innovations is undermining trust in the market. That's because after the internet, most people turn to friends and family for advice on installing low carbon technologies in the home. They say that the confusing landscape of overlapping codes and schemes is making it difficult for consumers to have their complaints addressed in a straightforward or timely fashion. There are also inconsistent levels of financial protection, which can leave consumers out of pocket if something goes wrong and their installer has ceased to trade. Ensuring a more consistent level of protection would help to unlock greater levels of private finance for home retrofit. Currently, the limited cover afforded by some protections leaves lenders at risk if work is carried out to a poor standard with some lenders reluctant to enter this market as a result. The organisations have now written to the Net Zero Secretary, Claire Coutinho, asking for an urgent review of consumer protection for those undertaking green upgrades to their homes. In other news, the Electrical Contractors' Association has slammed so-called bootcamps, intensive courses, which aim to train up EV charger installers in matter of days. The organisation claims that short, unrecognised courses are not fit for purpose and are a waste of public funds. It says that too many of such courses and qualifications are getting the green light. The ECA's public affairs boss, Jane Dawson, says that installing electrical technology, such as plugin points can be complex and dangerous. It also has the potential to endanger lives through fire, electric shock and grid outage. She says that charger installers without adequate training do not have the level of competence required in other areas of construction. The organisation called for representation for electrical contractors on the new EV Infrastructure Forum. Meanwhile, Siemens has unveiled what industry observers are hailing as the future of electrical training. The company has teamed up with tech firm Bilt to develop an educational platform using the Apple Vision Pro headset. The clever headset overlays 3D artificial reality and animations onto the real world. You can use natural gestures with hands, eyes, and voice to interact with elements, such as the breakers and cables. You can also enlarge or minimise parts and see animated step-by-step installation practise. The developers say it's a highly immersive and visual training experience that helps apprentices and electricians to not only learn faster but safer. They say it can help address the skill shortages in the sector. Siemens has put the assembly and installation guides for a number of its products on the platform, including its P5 power distribution panel. One area that's not yet covered by training, bootcamp, virtual reality or otherwise is the installation of solar panels as garden fencing. Yes, that's right, PV boards have become so cheap that homeowners are starting to use them as fences. The trend is seen in the UK, Germany, the USA and Australia. The Financial Times is blaming a glut produced by Chinese manufacturers. It says they are producing three times more supply than there is demand, and with prices starting at under 20 pounds per panel, no one seems too bothered that they're often not well aligned to the sun. Liverpool cabbie Liam says he's saving hundreds of pounds with his 4.2 kilowatt fence, which powers a 9.5 kilowatt hour battery. He says it allows him to run his home and electric car for just 7 p per kilowatt hour. Funnily enough, I read about this trend a while back and was going to include it in the news, but then realised the story I was looking at was released on April the 1st. So I assumed it was an April Fools' joke and cut it that week. The truth, it seems, is stranger than an emu driving a Cadillac. Meanwhile, in France, a small town in the Loire Valley says it has found the perfect place to put its community solar panel installation. It's going to run right over the municipality's graveyard. The special semi-transparent canopy will allow through sunlight. It will also cut water logging in winter and stop the cemetery from drying out in summer. Before pushing the button on the project, the residents of Saint-Joachim, many of whom have relatives buried at the site, were asked for their opinion. 97% agreed it was a great plan. Local resident Eric Broquaire described it as "a beautiful idea." The instal will provide 1.3 megawatts of power to be shared by homes and businesses in the town. But perhaps this week's most unusual instal is a charging station in the sea off the coast of the Scottish island of Orkney. It's set to become the world's first offshore plugin point for cruise ships. Under the plan, hybrid ships will be able to charge up while at anchor using power drawn from renewable sources, including wind, solar, and tidal. The charger will be connected to Orkney via a cable on the seabed. Speaking of electrical installations in tough environments, last week's question of the week was taken from our free training package on industrial socket outlets and asked what is the maximum residual operating current for a cable supplying temporary structures according to section 711 of BS 7671? Section 711, of course, covering the special location of exhibitions, shows and stands and the correct answer is 300 milliamps. Clearly, this is an area that we collectively need to brush up on because a modest 54% of people on YouTube got it right, but only 40% were right on LinkedIn. Bit of a damp squib around that one, folks. Maybe check out that free training package from Lewden. It's updated to Amendment 2 and will count towards your annual CPD requirement. There's a link to that in the show notes. In the coroners' courts this week, more details have emerged about the death of celebrity electrician George Gilbey. An inquest has heard that "Gogglebox" and "Big Brother" star Gilbey died from traumatic head and abdomen injuries after falling through a skylight while working on a project in Essex. The 40-year-old was declared dead on site at the EGL Homecare warehouse in Shoebury. A man arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter has been released under investigation. Gilbey was best known for starring on Channel 4's "Gogglebox" with his mom, Linda, and stepdad, Pete. He followed that with an appearance on "Celebrity Big Brother" before returning to work as a self-employed electrician. The joint police and health and safety executive probe into the incident continues. In product news, Juice Technology has unveiled a battery-based EV charger that delivers up to 210 kilowatts. It does this without increasing the contracted electrical power or requiring any additional installations. The firm says it's a more cost-effective service than that offered by conventional DC fast charging stations. That's because by continuously supplying power to the lithium batteries, a high charging capacity is achieved despite the low grid connection power. Juice says it can avoid charging peaks by powering up at times with more affordable energy tariffs. Creative Cables is marketing a range of fabric-covered conduit in trendy colours and patterns. They're designed as a stylish alternative to plastic or metal conduit. The company says the surface-mounted 20-millimeter tubing is suitable for applications where the cabling has to be out and proud. Colours available include red, beige, grey, and black. CK has unveiled the latest version of its MightyScope inspection camera. It comes with an onboard Wi-Fi hotspot that will stream in high resolution from a wireless range of up to 15 metres or 50 feet. As well as real-time viewing, you can also save photos and videos directly to your phone. The bright white LEDs can be adjusted from the app to view in complete darkness when pushed into dark and confined spaces. The link to all of this week's products are in the show notes as usual. And finally, an electrician who looks uncannily like Amazon boss Jeff Bezos has quit a life on the tools to become a full-time lookalike. My apologies in advance for this pronunciation. Cagdas Halicilar says he's often mistaken for the bald billionaire businessman, and is regularly stopped in the street and asked for selfies. However, the real test came when he walked onto the Amazon campus in Seattle. Not only was he not stopped, but all the employees crowded around for photographs. The German sparky has already had some success in his new career. He's just landed a role as Bezos in the Netflix miniseries"King of Stonks." Halicilar says he now wants the yachting and champagne lifestyle of his rocket-loving doppelganger. He's made a promising start by hiring his own full-time butler. Not many sparkies have one of those at home. Actually, it has been said that I've got a bit of a resemblance to Steve Jobs. Truly. Don't you think? What about if I take my glasses off? Is side on any better? No? Okay, have it your way. Who needs a butler anyway, standing around getting in the way? Now, I've gotta be honest at this point, I have never, ever in my life been compared to looking like Steve Jobs. I'm pretty sure script writer Ray is just trying to see how far I'll go in reading the autocue on that one. It's a bit of a, "I'm Ron Burgundy." Anyway, before we go, a reminder that we're in the market for your stories, your projects and your recommendations as we'd like to share them with the wider eFIXX community. Now we're heading into May and the springier months, we're looking at outdoor power and lighting, prosumer installations and vans and storage. Speaking of which, it's an eFIXX TV week and we've got a very, very special guest in the form of Martyn Lee, the host of popular podcast "EV News Daily," who quite frankly makes me look like a rank amateur at this presenting malarkey. Anyway, make sure you tune in for that special show on Wednesday at 8 PM. And in the meantime, send us pictures of your instals or let us know if you've come across any new kit that's making your job easier. Now, just before we get to your favourite bit of the show where I reveal last week's challenge words and winners, we want to thank our premium partners. We couldn't make the news without you. First up, they're the people who've created the Swiss Army Knife of solar inverters, along with all-weather batteries, very much the Boy Scouts of the solar industry, it's Sunsynk. Up next, for all your circuit protection needs, they're like having an Italian star striker in your Premiership team, it's the return of Lewden Palazzoli. Now, if you want to get smart but don't know where to start, relax. Whether you need whole home entertainment, commercial grade infrastructure, or anything in between, Snap One offers countless solutions for connected homes and businesses. Are you looking for easy-to-install modular lighting solutions and emergency lighting products designed by specialists in the industry? Well, they're ready and waiting to light up your life, it's Kosnic. And with over 35 years of manufacturing and supplying components to the electrical industry, from connectors to terminal blocks, through glands and enclosures, you could say they're making all the right connections, it's Hylex APL. The best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel, the home of EV-Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality products, it's Doncaster Cables. And if you want a lesson on how to reinvent a commodity product into a stylish but discreet feature, then look no further than D-Line trunking. If you want to get your cables organised and tidied away in any situation, they've got a solution. With an incredible range of equipment from EV charge points through industrial sockets and switches to kit for explosive areas, plus they supplied gear for a Campari factory, so they'll always have a place in my heart, it's SCAME. Big thanks to you all. We really appreciate your ongoing support for the news. If you think you know the words that I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guess into the comments. We'll take all the correct guesses and select one at random to be the winner of an eFIXX goodie bag prize. Answers submitted after about lunchtime on the Thursday after release will not be entered into the draw. Now let's reveal the winners of last week's challenge word competition. The words were collywobbles and cantilevered. We put all of your names into an electronic hat and the first one to be plucked out as a winner was beningledew2002. So well done to you. Make sure you click the Get Involved link in the show notes to claim your prize. Thanks for listening to this episode of Electrical News Weekly in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update. Thanks for listening, and until next time, have a great week, stay safe out there. And remember, there's no such thing as a torque-calibrated arm.