The American Public Power Association recently joined a coalition of stakeholders in sending a letter to congressional appropriations leaders reaffirming their support for funding for domestic grid component manufacturing.
The coalition supports the inclusion of $600 million to promote domestic transformer manufacturing in the Fiscal Year 2025 Senate Energy and Water Appropriations bill and urges Congress to utilize all avenues available as spending negotiations continue.
“The ongoing, long term forecast for challenges to the supply chain for electric grid components has been exacerbated by the unprecedented damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. As you work to finalize legislative business for the 118th Congress, we write to re-affirm our support for funding for critical domestic grid component manufacturing,” the groups said in their Nov. 27 letter.
Without increased domestic production of critical distribution grid components, “the real-world recovery efforts in communities ranging from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia run the risk of being long delayed, perhaps by years,” the groups said.
APPA was joined on the letter by the GridWise Alliance, Leading Builders of America, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the Transformer Manufacturing Association of America.
DOE Report on Transformers
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity recently released a report entitled, Distribution Transformer Demand: Understanding Demand Segmentation, Drivers, and Management Through 2050.
The report, prepared by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, looks at the number of distribution transformer units, the number and capacity of the assets, the units’ current age profile, and how demand for distribution transformers might increase in the coming years.
“Researchers found that three things are driving demand for distribution transformers – how many fail and require replacement, how many reach their end-of-life, and how the increasing number of new customers are driving demand on an annual basis,” a press release announcing the availability of the report said.
The study “also looks at the major drivers of demand including data centers, electric vehicles and charging stations, and renewable energy generation that requires ‘step-up’ transformers with similar characteristics to distribution transformers,” DOE said.
