The trouble with transformers

43 snips

Oct 29, 2024

Guest

Melissa Lott

Xizhou Zhou, Head of Power and Renewables at Wood Mackenzie, shares data-driven insights on impending transformer shortages. Melissa Lott, a former Columbia professor, discusses energy transition hurdles. Travis Edmonds from Hitachi Energy highlights supply chain challenges and increasing transformer demand. They explore the implications for clean energy projects, the differences in standards across regions, and the need for robust partnerships. Personal tales about EV infrastructure and the impact of seasonal energy trends add depth to their conversation.

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INSIGHT

Transformer Importance and Shortage

Transformers are crucial for the energy transition, particularly for adding new generation and EV charging.
Current transformer shortages pose a significant challenge.

INSIGHT

Transformers: Essential Grid Components

Transformers are essential for grid operation, acting as fundamental building blocks.
No grid activity can occur without transformers.

ANECDOTE

Long Transformer Lead Times

Xizhou Zhou cites data showing transformer lead times have increased substantially, averaging three years.
Some utilities face lead times of five to seven years during sourcing events.

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Electricity grids rely on transformers. Shortages are slowing down the transition to clean energy.

Transformers are such commonplace pieces of local infrastructure that most people barely notice them. In America, they include those dustbin-shaped objects on poles for power lines, and in the UK they are those rectangular boxes on the pavement. But transformers have a critical function in making the electricity grid work, and they also play a vital role in the energy transition, too. If you want to add new generation to the grid, or increase local power supplies so people can charge their EVs, very often you are going to need transformers. And right now, getting hold of them is not easy.

So why are these crucial pieces of kit in short supply? And how can we get more of them?

To discuss this critical question, host Ed Crooks is joined by his Wood Mackenzie colleague Xizhou Zhou, Head of Power and Renewables. Xizhou has a whole lot of data on the scale of the problem, including how long you have to wait to get hold of a transformer, and how much prices have been going up.

They are joined by Energy Gang regular Melissa Lott, who until very recently was a professor at Columbia University’s climate school. And we also have a newcomer to the show: Travis Edmonds, the Head of Supply Chain Management for North American Transformers at Hitachi Energy. Working out how to get transformers to people who need them is how he spends his days, so there is no-one really better qualified to explain the realities of the shortage and suggest ways to fix it.

It's a complicated subject, with many different aspects to it and many different perspectives on the problem. And it is one of the issues that will decide the future of clean energy, in America and around the world. The Energy Gang break it down, make sense of it all, and explain where they think the industry is headed now.

Keep listening to the end of the episode to find out about Melissa’s new job!

For more information on the Wood Mackenzie multi-client study ‘Making the Connection: Meeting the electric T&D supply chain challenge’, visit: https://www.woodmac.com/products/supply-chain-intelligence/multi-client-study-meeting-electric-td-industry-challenges/

This episode is brought to you by Enbridge. Listen to Enbridge and GZERO’s podcast Energized: The Future of Energy at GZEROmedia.com/theenergygang

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