Electricians Warned: Untested Solar Panel Danger!

coming up on this week's news a Consulting  engineer issues a stark warning to the trade   about untested solar panels octopus says it  setting up a club to decide the standards   for smart electrical kit and how an electrical  contractor is using artificial intelligence to   make big savings 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 on site 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 a Consulting engineer  

and fire expert has issued a stark warning  to the trade about untested solar panels Luke   Gonzales says there's been a significant increase  in their use in installations where the PV modules   are integrated into the building's fabric he says  their inclusion will almost certainly not comply   with current UK building regulations they will  also in turn invalidate any certificate issued by   MCS the Watchdog for the installation of domestic  renewable energy Gonzales who runs a fire safety  

and Building Services consultancy in Cardiff says  installers have a duty of care to ensure that the   products they're installing are suitably compliant  and are safe for use in his professional opinion   he says they should not be making any assumptions  of compliance on this matter Gonzales knows the   specific brand of solar panels involved but won't  name it publicly he says the products could be   putting homeowners at risk and in validating  insurance policies and that he's raised the  

issue with the manufacturer to no avail Gonzalez  has asked if the company involved should not at   least notify their customers of the importance  of only using suitably tested modules or he says   would they rather say nothing watch unfold and  be complicit in its non-compliance the consultant   has also alerted various UK associations and  certifications recently Gonzales has taken to   social media with his concerns it's understood  that behind the scenes the MCS is exploring this  

issue it's expected that the body will publish an  explanatory statement in the coming weeks in other  

news Octopus has revealed that it's setting up a  club to decide the standards for smart electrical   kit the energy giant surprised the trade with the  announcement that it's inviting other firms and   utilities to join an alliance dubbed project  Mercury this body will write the clean tech   standards so that electrical equipment utilities  and grid operators can all talk to each other   octopus says it already manages what it terms the  world's largest virtual power plant this comprises  

over 200,000 connected devices including solar  panels EV Chargers batteries thermostats and heat   pumps in total it represents over 1 GW of power  which can be flexibly deployed Octopus says that   the global Consortium of Hardware manufacturers  will simplify the integration of the 200 million   pieces of clean tech kit that are predicted to be  in use by 2030 devices which use the standard will   be known as mercury enabled the communication  protocol will allow energy grid operators to  

balance the load by controlling appliances such  as battery packs freezers and EV chargers octopus   says it will also Drive the uptake of Smart Energy  tariffs octopus founder and Archbishop of energy   Greg Jackson says he sees project Mercury as  similar to the development of Bluetooth which set   a global standard for tech devices the standard  could eventually help balance the electrical load  

in Ireland where it's been revealed that just  92 data centres now account for over a fifth   of the nation's electricity in fact 64 of the  buildings use between 10 and 50 megawatts of   power 50 megawatt is enough to power a the size  of reading 2 thirds of these are accounted for   by what are termed hyper-scale operators which  include Amazon web services Microsoft meta and   Google the research was compiled by bit power  Consultants still on technology an electrical  

contractor in America says he's worked out how to  use artificial intelligence to make significant   savings Eric Owski Boss of Treehouse says one of  the biggest costs for his firm is sending out an   electrician to site if there's any uncertainty  over an installation the first thing he used to   do was send out a van not anymore now for  90% of jobs such as EV Chargers no van is   sent out prior to the install day for those  jobs Treehouse asks the customer a handful of  

questions such as what are the major uses of  electricity in their home like water heaters   that helps the company determine if the homeowner  will need to upgrade their electrical connection   or main panel for more complex jobs the company  will ask the homeowner to submit more details   including photos of their home's dis board if the  company still needs more information it'll try a   virtual visit with the customer and only if that  fails it'll roll a van treehouse then quotes the  

job designs the installation and applies for  any permits while it has its own Workforce of   electricians it often hands that off to a local  independent electrician to do the work it's a   business model that's becoming more common in the  United States would it work in the UK let us know   what you think in the comments and if you're not  quite ready for AI electricians but still want to  

learn more about your trade our last question  of the week was lifted from our free training   package on Industrial socket Outlets made with  Lewden Palazzoli the question was for a socket   Outlet supplying a caravan pitch which of the  following statements is true the rcd protection   must disconnect and of course the correct answer  was all live conductors 85% of you got it right   on YouTube and for the first time in a long time  even more of you on LinkedIn got it right with  

91% meanwhile on X the platform formerly known as  Twitter a very respectable 79% nailed it be sure   to check out that free training package which  is now fully updated to incorporate amendment   to by clicking the link in the show notes now over  800,000 electricity meters are set to be replaced  

in the coming months in an urgent upgrade program  the reason the longwave radio signal which tells   them to switch between on and off peak is set  to be turned off next summer the outdated units   known as radio Telly switch or RTS meters have  traditionally been used to switch storage heaters   or immersion heaters on at night they enabled  special tariffs such as economy 7 if the meters   are not replaced in time some homes schools and  businesses could be left without Heating and hot  

water the other possibility is that they won't be  able to turn off their heating meter upgrade takes   around 2 hours to complete but some jobs can be  more complex if a DNO is needed or if a unit is   not accessible electricians are being asked to  advise any of their customers with an RTS meter   to contact their energy supplier immediately a  big thanks to our correspondent Sergio Fernandez   from the Costa Del Watford for the heads up on  that story and if you want to hear an interesting  

story about the time in economy 7 Tariff was  waylaid ask Gordon about his 5-year battle with   his energy provider it makes for a great story  in EV news Nissan say says that soon its electric  

cars will be able to power up homes the Japanese  giant is planning to introduce two-way charging on   some of its vehicles from 2026 the initiative will  start to be rolled out in the UK and then to other   European countries vehicle to grid technology  allows motorists to either power their homes using   their car's battery or sell it back to the grid  Nissan was the first automaker to gain the right   to upload power to the UK grid it estimates that 

the function could potentially Halve the annual   cost of powering an electric vehicle in product  news Fluke has unveiled a digital multimeter  

and clamp aimed at electricians working on solar  installs the 283 FC meter and wireless clamp are   designed to test individual photovoltaic panels  strings or inverters in large scale arrays with   the addition of stably mc4 test leads you can make  secure connections to modules or strings to test   DC voltages of up to 1,500 volts a special unit  has been unveiled which makes it easy to upgrade  

lights from fluorescent to led the recess is  designed to replace existing T5 and T8 fluorescent   tubes the light stays in the ceiling and the  design of the recess allows it to sit in the   existing fluorescent lamp holders but crucially  it only used them as a mechanical fix not as an   electrical connection instead it's powered by  a remote driver which sits in the ceiling the   existing ballast is bypassed this avoids all the  technical issues associated with LED tubes recess  

has just been recognised by the judges of the  Build Back better Awards they've given it both   a gold and a green award so congratulations to  the Regen initiative which developed the product   finally the big promotion this Autumn is from  BG circuit protection and it's just gone live  

installers who buy a product from the BG circuit  protection range will get entered into a draw   whose top prize is a European city break so  soon you could be sipping port in Porto beer   in Bratislava or vodka in Vilnius the runner-up  prizes aren't too shabby either they include a   Porsche Driving Experience an annual pass  for Merlin theme parks and attractions and   a smart TV to enter buy a product from the range  accessories are not included upload your receipt  

or invoice to the special BG website and well  that's it I've popped a link to the competition   website in the show notes the promotion ends  on Tuesday the 10th of December all the very   best everyone 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 as we transition   into November we'll be looking at commercial EV  charging testing equipment and Innovations within  

the electrical industry send us pictures of your  installs 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 Sunsynk up next they're  resolving ventilation problems one property at   a time offering a simplistic ventilation design  service and high quality products made right here  

in the UK breathing fresh air into your home  its envirovent the best thing to come out of   Yorkshire in stainless steel the home of EV Ultra  and other groundbreaking and 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 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 admitted 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 last week's  words were catfish and gashes and I obviously   did a really bad job of hiding them as simply  loads of you got both of them but the winner  

we plucked from our digital hat was Jason fkm  5mq 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 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 torque calibrated arm