The risks here go far beyond grid upgrades. Major solar storms can fry large numbers of transformers, as happened in Canada in recent decades. Much worse would be a repeat of the Carrington event of 1859, which could fry most of the transformers in North America. We don't have stockpiles of replacements, and can only build new ones at the anemic rate discussed in the article.
Not to mention the shortage of the larger, utility-scale Main Power Transformers (currently sold out into 2026) is a meaningful barrier to new power plant construction schedules, as well as interconnection hook-ups for large power users, such as data centers
Great article Justin.
The risks here go far beyond grid upgrades. Major solar storms can fry large numbers of transformers, as happened in Canada in recent decades. Much worse would be a repeat of the Carrington event of 1859, which could fry most of the transformers in North America. We don't have stockpiles of replacements, and can only build new ones at the anemic rate discussed in the article.
Not to mention the shortage of the larger, utility-scale Main Power Transformers (currently sold out into 2026) is a meaningful barrier to new power plant construction schedules, as well as interconnection hook-ups for large power users, such as data centers
This makes me proud to be a substack reader!
Fascinating. The more I go down this rabbit hole the more opportunities I’m uncovering.
Lobbying at it again smh 🤦