Transformers: The Giant Machines Taking Years to Deliver
A power transformer has no moving parts and burns no fuel, yet the grid needs one at almost every step between a power station and a home - and large ones now take years to deliver, not months. This video explains how a transformer works and how one is actually built: a grain-oriented electrical steel core, hand-wound copper coils, an oil-filled tank, months of custom engineering and weeks of factory testing.
The International Energy Agency reported in October 2023 that wait times for 50 MVA transformers had already grown from about 11 months to more than 19 months. By 2026, US reporting put average lead times near 128 weeks, with the largest units quoted at three to five years, as AI data-centre buildout, EV charging and grid electrification all compete for the same scarce factory capacity.
Two materials sit underneath the shortage: grain-oriented electrical steel, made by only a handful of mills worldwide, and copper, which the IEA warns could fall short of demand by around 30% by 2035. A short list of manufacturers - Hitachi Energy, Siemens Energy, GE Vernova, Hyundai Electric and TBEA - builds most of the world's large transformers, and Hitachi Energy alone has committed more than $9 billion globally, including about $1.5 billion in the United States, to expand capacity.
In Britain, National Grid ESO - renamed NESO in October 2024 - has run a transmission connection queue that reached over 700 GW of proposed projects, roughly four times the capacity the country needs by 2030, with some developers waiting up to 15 years. Ofgem approved a reform of the queueing rules in February 2025, moving to a 'first ready, first needed, first connected' system - but this video is explicit that reordering the queue does not, by itself, add a single extra transformer to the world's factories.
Prices are reported up by roughly three-quarters since 2019, and this video's own sourcing puts meaningful relief no earlier than 2027, with some of the largest announced plants not opening until 2028. It closes on what is genuinely still disputed: how fast new capacity and copper investment actually arrive, and how far queue reform alone can stretch existing supply.
Educational documentary. Not financial or investment advice.
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Sources and credits
Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons)
- Power transformers staged for grid repair, Port Isabel, Texas, 2008 (FEMA): Patsy Lynch, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFEMA_-_37376_-_Transformers_in_a_staging_area_in_Texas.jpg
- Large power transformer under construction, Packard Electric Co. (WWII-era US Army transformer production): Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AIndustries_of_War_-_Machinery_-_Miscellaneous_-_Making_power_transformers_for_the_Army._Transformer_kit._This_view_shows_a_section_of_the_pits_in_which_large_power_transformers_are_constructed._The_transformers_s%28...%29_-_NARA_-_45486695.jpg
- Steel rolling mill interior, Bethlehem Steel Corporation (general steel manufacturing, illustrative of the steel bottleneck): Lowe, Jet, creator, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AInterior_of_rolling_mill%3B_looking_southwest_-_Bethlehem_Steel_Corporation%2C_South_Bethlehem_Works%2C_Rolling_Mill%2C_Along_Lehigh_River%2C_North_of_Fourth_Street%2C_West_of_Minsi_Trail_HAER_PA%2C48-BETH%2C19B-3.tif
- Kennecott open-pit copper mine, Utah - the largest open-pit copper mine in the world (NARA): Bruce McAllister, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AKENNECOTT_SMELTER_AND_MINE_-_THE_LARGEST_OPEN-PIT_COPPER_MINE_IN_THE_WORLD_-_NARA_-_544792.jpg
- High-performance computing data centre wiring, NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility (illustrative of data-centre power demand): ENERGY.GOV, Public domain - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHigh_performance_computing_%28HPC%29_data_center_%289091835239%29.jpg
Primary sources
- IEA, 'Electricity Grids and Secure Energy Transitions', published 17 October 2023 (iea.org/reports/electricity-grids-and-secure-energy-transitions) - the 11-to-19-month lead-time figure for 50 MVA power transformers.
- Kitco News, 'US power transformer buyers scramble for imports, factory slots', 11 May 2026 - ~128-week average US lead times, generator step-up units exceeding 160 weeks, the 3-5-year range for the largest units, and the ~77-79% price rise since 2019.
- Renewable Energy World, 'Hitachi Energy to invest $1.5B to bolster transformer production', 2026 - the US-specific investment figure.
- Thailand Business News / IntelligentCIO / Caixin Global, reporting 17-20 August 2026 on Hitachi Energy's $300 million Hefei, China investment, each citing the company's '$9 billion global investment plan.'
- Enlit World, 'UK overhauls grid connections queue', 2026, and TheEngineer.co.uk, 'A boom with a queue: tackling the UK renewables gridlock' - the 700 GW-plus UK transmission connection queue and the up-to-15-year wait figure.
- CMS Law, 'TMO4 and first ready, first connected: reforming a disorderly queue'; HSF Kramer, 'Clean Power 2030 - Connections reform' (2025); Burges Salmon, 'Grid connection queue reform: TMO4 approval' - NESO's December 2024 proposal and Ofgem's February 2025 approval.
- National Grid ESO, 'Get on, get back or get out of the energy queue' (2023) - background on reform intent, cross-checked via AirQualityNews.
- IEA, Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025, and 2026 reporting (Hellenic Shipping News; News.Metal.com) - the ~30% copper supply shortfall warning by 2035.
Not regulated financial advice.