- Coming up on this week's news, wiring regulations chiefs warn the trade of the impact of the latest amendment to the document. The government announces a high level probe into the lack of electricians and a self-employed installer who abused the COVID loan scheme is to face seven years of sanctions. Welcome to "Electrical News Weekly" in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Make sure you click the link in the show notes to access their online store, 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 this week's challenge word competition is supported by the good people at Brady. If you need a label, they've got a printer and so much more. 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. And while you're there, click the link to check out the Brady range of printers. The authors of the wiring regulations are warning the trade this week of the impact of the latest amendment to the document. The IET has drawn up its assessments of the additions and amendments that it expects to be included. Amendment four has been a long time in the making and is designed to match us with European standards. It includes requirements for secondary batteries, generating sets and power over ethernet installations. It also sets out the procedures for functional earthing and bonding for computer systems. Responding to concerns about the number of changes to the regs this year, the IET says they're a response to fast evolving technologies, which makes sense, as we're not exactly living in Jacobean England anymore. The consultation over amendment four ended earlier this month and the organisation has now unveiled what it reckons will be the technical impact of Amendment four on installation practise. A key addition is section 545, which sets out the procedures for earthing and bonding of computer kit. This passage makes a clear distinction between functional earthing and protective earthing. The IET says this is important so that any interruption of the functional earthing does not impair the protective earthing. Section 545 sets out the requirements for things like minimum cross-sectional areas and the electrical continuity of bonding conductors and earthing terminals. A new chapter 57 incorporates the measures set out in a publicly available standard, which was fast tracked by British standards earlier this year. Publicly available specifications 63100 says that battery packs, which were often connected to solar panels, should never be placed in a roof space. Instead, it'll be recommended that batteries are located outside the property. It's also expected that the regs will state that access to cells and monoblock batteries should be possible only with the use of a tool. A new section 716 will address installations where the power is fed via ethernet cables. This sets out the design erection and verification of these instals. Amendment four is expected to be published in 2026. In other news, the government has announced a high level probe into the lack of electricians and other key trades. Ministers have become alarmed after it was revealed that the flagship Green Home's grant voucher scheme was ineffective due to the skill shortage. The programme delivered only about 47,500 home energy upgrades out of 600,000 originally envisaged. That's just eight percent of the target, which clearly proved to be as slippery as a salamander. The project spent only 314 million of its original 1.5 billion pound budget, and 50 million pounds of that went on administration costs. That works out at more than a thousand pounds worth of admin for every upgraded home. The public accounts committee heard that it could take four years to train the electricians and other specialists required to implement the home greening plans. Who knew? Now, Labour Energy Minister, Bill Esterson has announced a fresh inquiry into how the UK can build the workforce needed to deliver the nation's green infrastructure. It's set to take evidence from the trade as well as industry experts. The ECA's Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Eldrid, described the inquiry as a very welcome initiative. He said that alongside the lobbying from big utilities, the committee should remember the small and medium-sized contracting firms delivering solar panels, battery storage, and other technologies day in and day out. These accounted for the lion's share of apprentices and well-paying green jobs. The scale of the challenge was underlined this week as Lancashire County Council announced that it needs eight times as many electric vehicle charging points as it currently has by the end of the decade. That's because over a third of the cars and vans on the county's roads are expected to be electric or hybrid within the next six years. The local authority has worked out that it needs an extra 6,700 charging stations to meet demand by 2030. At the time of last count, there were just 817 in the borough. Like many councils, it's exploring where to instal charging points for motorists without driveways or garages, a trial of cross pavement gullies for such residents is currently underway, with 60 households taking part. The demand for plugin points is also being fueled by special promotions by car makers. This week, Ford offered customers buying a new electric Ford Pro Van, the installation of a charge point for just a tenner. The deal includes a home charge point, standard installation, a five year hardware warranty, and 12 months free access to the app. The offer is available for the E-Transit Custom and the E-Transit large van. With the installation of all this extra infrastructure and renewable upgrades, you're going to have to make sure you're up to speed on all things cables and conductors, and that's where our brand new free training package that we launched last week comes in. Our very own Joe Hammond takes a deep dive into all those niggling questions about cables that you've wondered about, including the baffling codes printed on them, why we segregate different voltages except for the times when we don't and the biggie, can we actually instal and use SY cable? Big thanks to Doncaster Cables for making that possible. Please go and click the link in the show notes to take the course and get yourself a certificate to help you with your annual CPD requirement. A self-employed electrician who abused the Covid loan scheme is to face seven years of sanctions. Sean David Dixon from Middlesboro will be subject to stringent bankruptcy restrictions after he falsely claimed two bounce back loans. In the applications, he overstated his turnover in order to gain 16,250 pounds more than he was entitled to. He claimed over 23,000 pounds for his firm during the pandemic. Under the rules of the scheme, businesses could claim up to 25% of their 2019 turnover with a maximum loan of 50,000 pounds. Dixon, for his part, did not dispute that he had provided inaccurate information in the application for a loan. Bankruptcy restrictions now prevent Dixon from acting as a company director and from borrowing more than 500 pounds without declaring that he is subject to the restrictions. He'll be under the constraints until the autumn of 2031. In product news, Martin Daily Electric has unveiled its latest multifunction tester. The ET6000 builds on the success of the ET4000 and features a full colour TFT display. It's designed for the critical tests such as high current and non-trip earth loop impedance, voltage measurement, face sequence indication, and auto RCD testing. All models feature high input protection with a cap for safety rating. The intuitive interface has lots of help screens, which will help you through each testing process, displaying connection diagrams that simplify even the most complex tests. There are lots of accessories, including the continuity leads for measuring earth bond continuity and R2 measurements via the long lead method. The SB13 safebreak socket adapter speeds up R2 and R1 plus R2 measurements by allowing connection to socket outlets without removing the socket from the wall. Wonderwall has unveiled what it's claiming is the world's most intelligent heat pump for residential installations. The unit uses propane as the refrigerant and has a performance coefficient of up to 4.99 at an inlet outlet temperature of between 30 to 35 degrees Celsius. The systems also feature an AI powered management system auto tuning to adjust to the building's heat loss and predictive weather compensation. Meanwhile, in Glasgow, a radical alternative to heat pumps is being tested. Electric wallpaper is being piloted in 12 tenements in the city to assess its effectiveness as a clean heat source. The project is being led by Glasgow City Council, the West of Scotland Housing Association, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Strathclyde. Scotland's homes are among the oldest in the world and the worst insulated in Europe. The average Scottish home loses heat three times faster than homes in many European countries. The electric wallpaper has two copper strips down each side, and then a graphene layer. When it's powered, the graphene emits infrared heat. Andrew Kubski from the West of Scotland Housing Association says the project is getting excellent feedback from tenants using the wallpaper. If it's judged successful, it could be rolled out to all of Glasgow's 70,000 tenement flats. Finally, a shout out to a young electrician who's taking his first steps in the trade. Congratulations to Tom Scott, who's just graduated from Burnley College. His neat work, dedication and enthusiasm has really impressed his tutors. We wish him well in the electrical family. And our usual 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. During November, we're looking at commercial EV charging, testing equipment and innovations within the electrical 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 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 Sun Synk. 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, 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 (indistinct) 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 as sponsored by Brady. Remember, if you need a label, they've got a printer and so much more. Click the link in the description to view their incredible range. Last week's words were langoustines and vibing, and the first name to come out of our electronic hat was Goboholder. Goboholder? Anyway, well done to you, Gobo, I guess. 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. Remember to click the link in the show notes to check out their online shop. 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 taut calibrated arm.