- Coming up on this week's news, the first trial of vehicle-to-grid charging involving the big car makers has begun in Manchester, electricians are asked to help eliminate neutral current diversions, and a company is fined after a cable drum fractures a worker's skull. 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. The UK's first trial of vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-grid charging involving the whole supply chain has begun in Manchester. The idea is that homeowners can draw power from vehicles parked in their driveway. When electricity prices are high, they can use the car's batteries to power their home. Alternatively, they can sell power back to the grid. Car makers Tesla, Ford and BYD are part of the scheme, as are charger makers, Myenergi, Ohme, Hypervolt, and Indra. The trial in Central Manchester is being run by software house Kraken. It's the company behind the clever apps for Octopus, EDF, E.ON, and Good Energy. If it can be made to work at scale, V2G charging as it's known, could solve a lot of headaches for the national grid. That's because grid managers could potentially draw power from millions of cars when it needs it. Equally, it can sell surplus power on blustery days when wind turbines produce too much electricity. The transformation will also create an enormous amount of work for the electrical trade. But a few basic decisions need to be made first, the primary one is, should cars export in DC or AC? It would be relatively easy to add inverter circuitry to cars for AC, but DC might suit homes with solar panels and involve fewer losses. Secondly, car companies and energy providers need to agree on a standard way of doing things."If these two issues can be agreed, then the potential could be jaw dropping," says Octopus Energy. That's because if only 7% of cars are V2G enabled in the next six years, that represents a huge 4.5 gigawatts of power. Gordon's done a deep dive into this issue with EV expert Claire Miller. I've popped the link to that excellent video in the show notes, and if Gordon looks a bit younger in that video, it's not due to his punishing regime of Botox injections, we were just so far ahead of the curve that we made that content some time ago now. The launch of the test site comes as the UK rapidly approaches the milestone of 1 million chargers. Most of these are private or business plugin points, but the public charging infrastructure is growing at pace. In fact, a public charger is currently being installed every 25 minutes in the UK. There are now around 65,000 in the country, in fact, such is the UK's progress, that it's now ranked in the top 10 countries for facilitating EV adoption. It's on a par with Germany, but some way off the top three, which are Norway, the Netherlands, and Finland. In other news, electricians are being asked this week to report cases of neutral current diversions. Researchers are trying to understand the scale of the problem across the UK The study is being backed by the ECA, the NICEIC, the IET, NAPIT, SELECT, and Electrical Safety First. A neutral current diversion can happen in the event of the loss of a protective earth neutral conductor on a PME supply, a situation that's about as welcome as an earwig in a salad. The installation then loses its intended connection to neutral and earth. The current is diverted and will find its way back to the supply transformer anyway it can. One common route is through shared metallic pipework, such as gas and water pipes. There's not a lot of data available about how widespread occurrences are, and that's where you come in. Should you detect a neutral current diversion, the researchers ask that you submit your findings via their website. You'll be asked some questions, such as the voltage and current you measured and the postcode of the installation. The research period will run for six months and the submissions will be reviewed. If there are many incidents in one area, the DNO will be alerted to the size of the problem. If the problem is nationwide, the organisations will inform the government of their findings. I've put a link to the researcher's website in the show notes. And speaking of research, last week's question of the week was all about selectivity of protection devices. We've covered this subject in great detail in a free training package we made with Lewden Palazzoli on circuit protection. The question was, what is the rule of thumb ratio for rated currents of protective device to provide selectivity? The correct answer as found in the regs is 1.6:1, and 61% of people on YouTube got it right, whereas only 18% were right on LinkedIn. There were some cries of foul play as to the wording of the question, but, you know, we just ignored those. To find out what this value is all about and how it impacts on your installations, please do go and check out that free training package, there's a link in the show notes. In the courts this week, a company and its director have been fined after an employee was struck on the head while manufacturing cable drums. The man had been working for Code-A-Weld of Great Yarmouth Limited when the incident happened in November, 2022. Although the company had made steel drums previously, they had never made one of this size. The drum in question weighed over seven tonnes. The jacking setup failed, resulting in a catalogue of injuries, including fractures to the man's face and skull, and him losing the sight in one eye. He was airlifted to hospital, placed into an induced coma, and spent just under three weeks in hospital where he needed facial reconstruction surgery. A health and safety executive probe found that Code-A-Weld Great Yarmouth Limited failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and to provide the full training required. The company was fined 24,000 pounds and ordered to pay three and half thousand pounds in costs. Still in the courts, two companies have been fined after a teenage worker was exposed to asbestos. The 16-year-old had been working for P Turnbull Joinery and Building Services Limited on an outbuilding of a domestic property after the firm had been hired by Alt Berg Holding Limited to refurbish the property in Richmond, North Yorkshire. He had been breaking up cement sheets taken from the roof of the property and putting them into a skip in June, 2021. Asbestos was later found to be in the cement sheets, exposing him to asbestos fibres. A health and safety executive investigation found that Alt Berg Holdings Limited had failed to carry out an asbestos refurbishment and demolition survey of the property, which would've identified the problem. P Turnbull Joinery and Building Services had not properly assessed the work and failed to prevent the worker being exposed to asbestos. P Turnbull Joinery and Building Services Limited of Attwood Terrace, Wolsingham, Durham pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined 2,000 pounds and ordered to pay 500 pounds in costs at Peterlee Magistrate's Court. Alt Berg Holdings Limited of Moor Road, Melsonby, Richmond, North Yorkshire pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015, and was fined 6,000 pounds and ordered to pay 1,950 pounds in costs. And if you're worried about exposure to asbestos or you want to know a little bit more about this dangerous substance and how you're at risk from it, then please do check out the free training package that we created with the Luceco Group on Health and Safety. We covered the subject of asbestos and many other things in that training package. There's a link in the show notes below. In product news this week, Luceco is marketing its IP65 rated outdoor consumer unit as a solution for EV charge points. The consumer unit has a lockable front cover to prevent unauthorised access to the circuit breakers. The IP65 enclosure also provides protection against dust and water jets, making it safe from water from a garden hose or jet washer. Before we go, a reminder that the eFIXX Awards are now open for entries. Categories include EV Installer of the Year, Smart Home Installer of the Year, Renewables Installer of the Year, and Wholesaler of the Year. So make 2024 the year you get the recognition you deserve. You can check out the full list of categories on the website, which I've popped in the show notes, but hurry, you've only got until the end of July to get your entries in, so don't put it off. Lastly, 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. In July, we're looking at data and networking, and fire and security, plus all the new innovations that are coming into the industry. 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, it's the very welcome return of 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, its Sunsynk, welcome back. Next, they're the brand that pride themselves on keeping people close to what's important with the world's most recognisable doorbell chime, it's Ring. And do you want a no fuss lighting solution that's packed with value? Then try the EcoLink range from Signify, combining value for money with top end Signify quality. Now a business that will literally bend over backwards to give you first class service on the trade-only supply of signal reception and distribution, custom instal, home automation, and security products for all residential and commercial projects, it's Alltrade. And if you want to pump up the jam and join the home heating revolution, then it's got to be heat pumps from Daikin. The best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel, the home of EV Ultra and other groundbreaking quality products, it's Doncaster Cables, and 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, "constellation" and "Lamborghini" and the first person to get both right was BenskiLecTroniK, well done to you, make sure you click the 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.