Net Work November 2025

Some regular readers might recall my mini-series entitled “From Pipelines to Pylons” (Everyday Practical Electronics, August and September 1999) which told the story of Britain’s electricity generation and distribution network.  National Power generously allowed me to wander round a nearly-new power station during its annual shutdown, when the plant’s inner workings would be laid bare.

^ Rolls-Royce has won the UK’s competition to design and build the next generation of Small Modular Reactors, housed in futuristic buildings.

Britain’s current energy plight is perhaps perfectly captured in the YouTube video of Killingholme “A” being demolished, see  https://youtu.be/3k8SjEqVf0Q . This month I also bring readers up to date with the latest news about Britain’s SMR programme. As I described in earlier columns, several contenders including NuScale and GE-Hitachi dropped out along the way. In June this year, perhaps unsurprisingly, Rolls-Royce was crowned as the competition winner to design and build SMRs for the British market, which is welcome news.

Nuclear power will possibly be the only viable long-term solution for decades to come. Still, the first SMRs won’t go live until about 2030, when Sizewell C is also scheduled to start production. While Killingholme’s CCGT plant lasted just 20 years, Rolls-Royce promises a 60 year life span for its SMRs.

A vision of fusion

^ Cutaway illustration of the Joint European Torus (JET) nuclear fusion research project. (Image credit: Eurofusion)

In the very distant future, nuclear fusion may provide the ultimate answer to our energy woes. The Joint European Torus (JET) was built in Britain as a pilot plant to explore the viability of building a commercial fusion power plant. The highest temperatures ever seen in the universe have since been artificially created and recorded, and in late 2024 JET gained the world record for the highest energy output ever seen, just before the 40-year old device was retired for good. There’s more at https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/programmes/joint-european-torus/

Work at the multinational International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) tokamak, a large-scale nuclear fusion pilot plant based in France, has been dogged by lengthy delays. I explained more about ITER in the November ’22 issue and there’s more background at www.iter.org.

Trials of Vehicle-to-House (V2H) charging are also continuing. The idea is that an EV battery could somehow be plugged into a special charger that in turns feeds into the National Grid. There are more details of V2H at https://www.indra.co.uk/v2h.  Incidentally, Tesla has applied to the UK energy regulator Ofgem for a licence to enter the British market as an electricity supplier in its own right, competing against all the well-known names. Hopefully that will shake up the market.

Due to the imminent Ofgem price cap increase (see https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/energy-price-cap-explained), consumer bills are set to rise by a further 2% this year.

The risks faced by our energy networks this coming winter could get worse still. The UK both imports and exports electricity through a network of undersea ‘interconnects’. Just as I write this piece, Kathryn Porter has reported in the Telegraph that Norway, a country heavily reliant on hydro-electricity, is suffering extreme problems with reservoir water shortages. This could directly affect the country’s ability to generate hydro-electricity during winter, which may result in rationing and impact Norway’s electricity exports through the interconnects to Scandinavia, mainland Europe and the UK.

You can download The true affordability of net zero from https://watt-logic.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Affordability-of-net-zero-FINAL-SPREAD.pdf and you can learn more of Kathryn Porter’s work at the Watt-Logic website, https://watt-logic.com.

Meantime, the website www.energydashboard.co.uk/live will help us to keep an eye on things by displaying the UK’s energy consumption and demand data in real time (an icon toggles dark or light web page views).

Going postal

In September’s Net Work I reported that eBay was eliminating private seller fees, as buyers would pay a so-called “Buyer Protection Fee” instead, an idea lifted from Vinted.  eBay’s policy on its new Simple Delivery requirement for sellers can be viewed at https://www.ebay.co.uk/sellercentre/postage/simple-delivery.  A popular E-commerce news website has plenty to say about it at https://www.valueaddedresource.net/ebay-uk-price-hike-simple-delivery-royal-mail/.  (Information was correct at the time of writing but may have changed since then.)

Incidentally, for UK readers only, at least the Nectar loyalty card scheme is still operating, for now anyway. Over time, Nectar points can accumulate into handy pocket money to spend on eBay, Argos, Esso, Sainsbury’s and others (see https://www.nectar.com/card/spend).  When buying, you must click through to eBay from the Nectar website via this link: https://www.nectar.com/brands/588765.

If you forget, simply keep items (unpaid) in your eBay shopping cart, click away to Nectar and then return to eBay again through the affiliate link to earn your points. You can set up a Nectar account and link it to eBay at www.nectar.com.

I showcase one or two useful test and measurement devices, starting with a Kowsi tester designed for inline monitoring ofg standard DC mains adaptor supplies (2.1/ 2.5mm jacks).

^ Kowsi’s KWS-DC28 is an inline power meter using 5.5 x 2.1/ 2.5mm DC jacks. It displays voltage, current, time and more on a compact colour OLED.

^ This portable pressure washer with two 21V Lithium batteries was merely £12 from Temu. It’s very handy for power-washing down and spot-cleaning but can’t compare with a mains-operated one.. ¼” ‘Quick Connect’ nozzles are now appearing on the UK market as well.  Various pressure washer accessories use the same fitting and are worth looking out for.

This month I also showed some lines from Temu’s website, in the shape of a low-cost ‘talking’ digital multimeter, digital voltmeters and a compact 21V pressure washer that was available for just £12-15 or so, compared with £50+ in the UK. Just the thing for quick cleaning jobs, getting ready for autumn clean-ups.

.

^ Aneng M109 Speech Broadcast DMM actually speaks the measurements and ranges, for under £5

^ M109 in NCV (Non Contact Voltage tester) mode

^ This battery tester uses magnets to clamp onto batteries or button cells, reading the voltage directly. it also checks 9V batteries. Temu, AliExpress.

For full details, check this month’s bumper Net Work article in Practical Electronics! You can Email the writer at alan@epemag.net

• The December 2025 issue will mark the final regular Net Work in the long-running series, but I hope that the column will appear quarterly or so starting from 2026.