The Opportunity 

The objective of this Opportunity is to shortlist the submissions that best answer the brief, with the aim of attending a presentation day with the EIC Industry Partners, where it can be discussed in greater detail with a technical panel. The EIC welcomes submissions from individual companies or companies working in collaboration with each other.

What is the problem? 

As the UK transitions towards net zero, there’s been a large increase in the uptake of low carbon technologies (LCTs) such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, leading to a significant increase in power demand.

To support this, more customers are requesting larger domestic fuses in their properties to ensure that service cables aren’t overloaded.

UK Power Networks (UKPN) currently carry out around 5,600 fuse upgrades annually, with this number expected to increase to over 35,000 during the ED2 funding period (up to March 2028). It’s anticipated that the number of incorrect upgrades may also increase during this period, potentially increasing risks of fire, property damage and injury to customers if the wrong size fuses are used.

To correctly replace domestic fuses, operational staff must identify the size, type and rating of the low voltage (LV) cables feeding the property, particularly for Paper Insulated Lead Covered (PILC) cables, as they can have up to four individual cores within the lead cable sheath.

It’s often difficult to identify cable characteristics upon initial visual inspection. Current practices include:

• Manually opening the cut out to reveal the cable core, requiring two operators
• Relying on operator experience and local knowledge to determine the cable characteristics without opening the cut out
• Checking for markings on the cable sheath, which are not always present.

Additionally, cable records kept by DNOs don’t always correctly record the size and location of the service cable.

Preferred Output 

UKPN want to conduct a feasibility study to explore the development of a device that allows a single operator to identify the following whilst the cable is energised, without making contact or opening the cable sheath or cut out:

 Size of the LV service cable conductor

• Type of LV service cable
• Rating of LV service cable (from cross referencing the size and type with a lookup table).

The feasibility study will focus on the research and development of potential solutions to this challenge. The study will be required to:

• Carry out initial research to explore feasible technologies and methodologies
• Develop and test a working lab-based prototype at UKPN’s training facility
• Justify if this challenge is technically unfeasible.

Should the feasibility study be successful and identify a potential solution, there may be an opportunity to progress to a second phase to further develop a solution, providing UKPN with the resolution to:

• Avoid misidentification of LV service cables
• Upgrade fuses reliably and in a timely manner using a single operator
• Reduce health and safety incidents caused by incorrect fuse replacements.