It's been taking about a year to get 500kva-5000kva transformers and big 480V switchgear. Things never really recovered from covid. The AI buildout certainly hasn't helped things but it's amazing how long this problem has been around.
Things never really recovered from covid. The AI buildout certainly hasn't helped
“Lead times, or the time taken between an initial order and its delivery, for some high-voltage transformers have increased to multiple years from around a year in 2020 and 2021’ [1].
A fascinating glimpse of how much complexity underpins our modern world actually works. Obviously they must have factories for these things, but I hadn't considered the supply chain there.
It's been a huge problem in Ukraine. The Russians have been targeting the large ones, and it's been a large part of their blackouts. To the extent they protect key ones with patriot batteries. But apparently no one manufactures them anymore on the continent. Or like, they produce one or two a year. So the euros have had to gift their spare ones. It's quite an interesting story
It's been taking about a year to get 500kva-5000kva transformers and big 480V switchgear. Things never really recovered from covid. The AI buildout certainly hasn't helped things but it's amazing how long this problem has been around.
“Lead times, or the time taken between an initial order and its delivery, for some high-voltage transformers have increased to multiple years from around a year in 2020 and 2021’ [1].
[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-power-companies-s...
A fascinating glimpse of how much complexity underpins our modern world actually works. Obviously they must have factories for these things, but I hadn't considered the supply chain there.
I'd only heard of it in the context of a solar flare blowing out all the transformers and we'd be SOL
It's been a huge problem in Ukraine. The Russians have been targeting the large ones, and it's been a large part of their blackouts. To the extent they protect key ones with patriot batteries. But apparently no one manufactures them anymore on the continent. Or like, they produce one or two a year. So the euros have had to gift their spare ones. It's quite an interesting story
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/08/17/magazine/tran...