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Big boxes of steel, iron, and mineral oil.
That’s how John Gajda, a long-time utility engineer and professor at North Carolina State University, describes the power transformers Siemens Energy plans to build in Charlotte.
The hunks of metal are named for their vital function: transforming the electricity produced at power plants to a voltage suitable for transmission, then transforming the voltage again for use in our homes and businesses.
“Transformers are the key technology that allow us to carry power over a distance,” Gajda said.
Central to the intricate network of cables, wires, and scaffolding seen at power substations, transformers have long played a critical — if not flashy — role in our electric grid.
“It’s maybe not the sexiest part of power generation,” said Richard Voorberg, president of Siemens Energy’s North America hub. “Everybody likes to talk about the generation side — big wind turbines or solar panels or nuclear plants. But this is one of those quiet backbone things that are necessary.”
Transformers come in all shapes and sizes, from the 200-ton version at a power plant switchyard to the small green box outside a home.
Siemens Energy plans to build the former, highly specialized pieces of equipment whose lead times have ballooned from about 18 months to up to five years, thanks to a global shortage.
One factor leading to more demand: large power transformers in this country are about 40 years old on average, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, and brushing up against their expiration dates.
“Some units in the grid are even more than 70 years old and still operating,” the agency says in a recent report. “Aging [large power transformers] cause higher failure risk.”
The worldwide push to electrify transportation and heat, combined with the transition to renewables from fossil fuels, has also created a surge in need.
“We need to build a lot more wind and solar,” said Luke O’Dea, vice president of engineering at Durham-based Cypress Creek Renewables, “and we need one or more of these transformers at every site where we want to build a new project.”
The U.S. Department of Energy says the country bought about 750 large power transformers in 2019. Three years from now, the figure will grow to 900, the agency predicts.
Compounding the problem, only about a fifth of U.S. large power transformers are produced domestically. Much of the rest are produced in Eastern Europe and Asia.
“We’ve got to be making these more in our country,” Voorberg said, “not only because of political instability in certain regions — but also plain old logistics issues.”
Siemens Energy’s new investment in North Carolina will help. The company will expand and refit its existing factory in Charlotte to produce 57 large power transformers and bring in another two dozen for service each year, adding 475 jobs. It will mark the energy giant’s first such facility in the United States.
To be sure, the transformers will serve the entire country, not just the Carolinas. But the equipment will be vital for Duke Energy, which is required by law to zero out its carbon emissions by midcentury, and is planning now for transmission upgrades required to interconnect more solar, wind, and battery storage.
“We’re building a lot of new substations,” said spokesperson Jeff Brooks. “That’s part of growing capacity on our system to support not only new business and industry, but also the dynamic power flows required to add more distributed technologies across the grid.”
Siemens Energy will also confront another challenge posed by the clean energy transition: Transporting renewable electricity hundreds of miles from where it’s readily produced to where it’s needed, such as from large wind farms in the Midwest or in the Atlantic Ocean to the populous East Coast.
“To transfer it that long distance, you need to convert it to DC,” said Voorberg, referring to direct current as opposed to alternating current. “Otherwise, you’re getting way too many losses going on.”
That’s why the company will add 84 jobs in Raleigh to design and test high-voltage DC transmission systems. “It’s more like a lab in Raleigh,” he said, “and a factory in Charlotte.”
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a second-term Democrat who has long championed the state’s clean energy economy, helped bring about the investment along with a host of government partners.
“Bringing production of these high voltage transformers onshore not only creates American jobs but makes our electric grid more resilient and ready for the transition to clean energy,” Cooper said in a statement.
Gajda, part of the Future Renewable Electric Energy Delivery and Management research center at N.C. State, certainly agrees. But when he saw the news, he said, he first viewed it through the lens of a professor.
“I can tell my students, ‘Hey, here’s another cool place where you can go to work,’” Gajda said. “I’m just excited about what it does for the energy ecosystem in North Carolina.”
SOLAR: An Arizona company announces plans for a $344 million solar panel recycling facility in rural Georgia, which will also manufacture enough glass to supply 5 GW worth of new panels per year. (Associated Press)
ALSO: Virginia lawmakers table separate bills that would have increased the state’s cap on distributed generation and allowed the state to override county rejections of solar farms. (Utility Dive, Suffolk News-Herald)
GRID: ERCOT officials are skeptical of a U.S. House bill to connect Texas’ grid to the rest of the country, suggesting the plan could disincentivize construction of new generation in the state. (E&E News, subscription)
LITHIUM: An inaugural Lithium Innovation Summit in Arkansas attracts more than 700 people, as boosters say the state could meet more than 15% of global demand for the element. (Arkansas Advocate)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
WIND: Louisiana businesses with expertise in oil and gas extraction are finding opportunities in offshore wind. (Governing)
UTILITIES:
NUCLEAR: Kentucky lawmakers introduce bills to support development of nuclear energy in the state. (WKMS)
OIL & GAS: Federal regulators approve two projects along the Gulf Coast that are expected to accelerate natural gas exports. (E&E News)
COAL: A federal lawsuit claims a coal company owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice improperly paid millions to settle a bank debt that should have gone to other creditors. (Cardinal News)
CLIMATE: JPMorgan Chase and State Street quit an international coalition aimed at curbing big companies’ investment-related greenhouse gas emissions, while BlackRock scales back its involvement. (Reuters)
ALSO: Combining state, local and private-sector efforts to reduce emissions are more effective than any efforts on their own, researchers find, noting that public-sector emissions rules can drive companies to follow suit. (The Hill)
CLEAN ENERGY: Solar and battery storage will make up more than 80% of new large-scale energy construction in the U.S. this year, while the country will add the smallest amount of new gas capacity in 25 years, the Energy Information Administration predicts. (E&E News, subscription)
GRID:
OIL & GAS:
POLITICS: Republicans pushing for climate action vow to keep working even if former President Trump is elected and turns the tide against them. (E&E News)
SOLAR:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe participates in a $13.4 million intertribal electric vehicle charging network and deploys six electric vehicles to serve residents. (South Dakota Searchlight)
OFFSHORE WIND:
OVERSIGHT: Amid new allegations that former Ohio utility regulator Sam Randazzo had a corrupt relationship with FirstEnergy dating back to 2010, Gov. Mike DeWine faces questions about whether he knew about that relationship when appointing Randazzo in 2019. (Ohio Capital Journal)
SOLAR: The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe expects to break ground later this year on a planned 756 MW solar installation on its land in southwestern Colorado. (KSUT)
ALSO: A California lawmaker introduces legislation that would require state regulators to consider all economic and environmental benefits of rooftop solar when setting net metering rates. (PV Magazine)
CLEAN ENERGY:
UTILITIES:
OIL & GAS: Occidental Petroleum predicts its plan to inject captured carbon into its Permian Basin oil and gas wells will increase crude production by as much as 12,000 barrels daily by 2026. (E&E News, subscription)
PIPELINES: Tribal nations and advocates push back against a proposed pipeline that would carry Permian Basin natural gas to an export terminal in Mexico, saying it threatens sacred sites and could fuel the LNG boom. (DeSmog)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
CLIMATE:
GRID: Los Angeles’ municipal utility votes to move forward with joining California’s grid operator’s extended day-ahead power market. (RTO Insider, subscription)
WIND: Oregon commercial fishermen and Indigenous communities criticize the Biden administration’s finalization of wind energy areas off the state’s southern coast, saying the federal agency failed to account for potential impacts. (Oregonian)
FOSSIL FUELS: A newly finalized U.S. EPA rule should help reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations but won’t address smaller, midstream emissions impacting those living in Pennsylvania’s fracking region. (Yale Environment 360)
GRID:
SOLAR:
AFFORDABILITY: Both chambers of Connecticut’s legislature unanimously approve a $17 million boost to energy bill assistance programs; the governor immediately signed the bill into law. (CT Mirror)
FOSSIL FUELS: Developers want to clean up a former oil- and coal-fired power plant in Wiscasset, Maine, and turn the site into a manufacturing and clean energy technology center and a marina. (Bangor Daily News)
BUILDINGS:
WIND: Virginia lawmakers delay until 2025 consideration of a bill to allow entities other than Dominion Energy to build offshore wind facilities, rewarding the utility’s intense lobbying against the bill and disappointing clean energy advocates. (Energy News Network)
BIOMASS: Financially troubled biomass company Enviva, which operates wood pellet factories across the Southeast, reaches a critical point as its 30-day grace period to pay bond holders expires, likely requiring either a streamlining of its operations or a move toward bankruptcy. (Wilmington StarNews)
SOLAR:
NUCLEAR:
PIPELINES: A lawyer for six Virginia landowners along the Mountain Valley Pipeline says they’ll appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a judge dismisses their suit challenging the pipeline’s use of eminent domain to build on their property. (Cardinal News)
OIL & GAS: At least six liquified natural gas projects are underway in Mexico but will rely mostly on gas shipped from the Permian Basin and other regions in the U.S., including from facilities currently under scrutiny by federal officials. (Canary Media)
EMISSIONS:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
GRID: A Texas Congress member carries legislation to require the state’s standalone power grid to connect with the nation’s major grids. (KEYE)
GRID: The rise of electric vehicles could threaten power grid reliability without better collaboration between utilities and charging station companies, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. warns. (Utility Dive)
ALSO:
CLEAN ENERGY: More than half of the investments directly tied to incentives from two major federal infrastructure laws are flowing to Republican-led states, while the rest is split among Democratic and swing states, an analysis finds. (CNN)
OIL & GAS:
OVERSIGHT: President Biden’s allies are anxious for the administration to finalize long-awaited environmental and emissions rules as this year’s election approaches. (E&E News)
TRANSPORTATION: Environmental justice advocates call for a moratorium on expanding highways, saying they disproportionately affect nearby communities of color through displacement and pollution. (Washington Post)
WIND: Virginia lawmakers delay until 2025 consideration of a bill to allow entities other than Dominion Energy to build offshore wind facilities, rewarding the utility’s intense lobbying against the bill and disappointing clean energy advocates. (Energy News Network)
PIPELINES: A lawyer for six landowners along the Mountain Valley Pipeline says they’ll appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a judge dismisses their suit challenging the pipeline’s use of eminent domain to build on their property. (Cardinal News)
HYDROGEN: California’s transportation department plans to spend $127 million to purchase six hydrogen-powered passenger trains. (Bloomberg)
OIL & GAS:
POLITICS: New Mexico’s oil and gas industry shifts some of its political donations away from Republicans to Democrats, who hold most of the state’s elected offices. (Capital & Main)
PUBLIC LANDS: The federal Bureau of Land Management proposes withdrawing 4,213 acres in New Mexico from new oil and gas leasing and mining claims in an effort to protect sacred tribal land. (news release)
CARBON CAPTURE: A California oil and gas company that has reduced emissions by electrifying equipment now looks to make its operations “carbon negative” by capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide. (Forbes)
UTILITIES:
SOLAR:
GEOTHERMAL: New Mexico lawmakers pass legislation creating a geothermal energy research and development grant fund. (NM Political Report)
MICROGRIDS: San Diego Gas & Electric unveils four new battery-powered microgrids in southern California communities aimed at increasing grid resilience. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
MINING: An Australia firm plans to invest $2.16 billion in its proposed zinc and manganese mine in southern Arizona. (KVOA)
TRANSPORTATION: Denver’s climate action office experiments with paying residents to ride their bikes instead of driving cars. (Denverite)
COMMENTARY: A Colorado advocate calls on state leaders to improve residents’ quality of life by redirecting transportation spending from highways to public transit and bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure. (Colorado Sun)
OFFSHORE WIND: Eversource Energy says it will sell its stake in the South Fork and Revolution wind projects to Global Infrastructure Partners for $1.1 billion as it posts a fourth-quarter loss. (Reuters)
ALSO: A nonprofit business program selects nine Maryland companies aiming to enter or expand in the domestic offshore wind industry for free consulting and project development services. (news release)
TRANSIT: Boston’s city council may consider a traffic congestion pricing plan similar to that of New York City to improve air quality and support public transit use. (Boston Herald)
FOSSIL FUELS:
GRID:
BUILDINGS:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Vermont Electric Cooperative begins tracking how many electric vehicles are plugged in to charge overnight and manages their charging times to prevent grid overload but still fulfill demand. (WCAX)
SOLAR: A central Maine town’s board sends solar-related zoning recommendations to its city council centered around wetlands protection and when it’s appropriate to rezone land for solar. (Morning Sentinel)
NUCLEAR: The chair of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission tours the Oswego, New York, nuclear plant and says nuclear power is critical for the state to reach its clean power goals. (Spectrum News 1)
CLIMATE: The future of some traditional New England sports like pond hockey are threatened by the milder winters and thinner ice coverage associated with climate change. (Associated Press)
SOLAR: A company encourages Black farmers in the Southeast to lease some of their property for solar projects to add a new source of income. (Civil Eats)
ALSO:
OIL & GAS:
PIPELINES:
RENEWABLE GAS: Florida lawmakers consider legislation to allow utilities to charge customers for “renewable gas” projects, but clean energy advocates warn the move could keep the state tied to gas combustion and fossil fuels. (WLRN)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blames electric vehicles for a 20% year-over-year increase in the cost of auto insurance. (Florida Politics)
NUCLEAR: Virginia lawmakers advance legislation to allow Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy to recover costs from developing small modular nuclear reactors. (Virginia Mercury)
CLEAN ENERGY: A Texas county board votes to approve agreements that clear the way for an energy company to build a hydrogen plant, solar farm and wind farm totalling 1,500 MW. (KVII)
GRID:
EMISSIONS: A Texas oil and gas company will pay $4 million for air pollution violations due to improper storage at 23 facilities in Texas and New Mexico. (USA Today)
CLIMATE: New research from Virginia Tech and a federal agency shows much of the East Coast is sinking due to groundwater depletion, compounding the concurrent problem of rising sea levels. (New York Times)
COMMENTARY: Time is running out for Georgia lawmakers to push Georgia Power to store its coal ash more responsibly and to take action against a mining threat to the Okefenokee Swamp, writes a publisher. (Georgia Recorder)
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