From Copper Recycling to Future Grid Infrastructure | Thomas Schneider, Asta Energy Solutions

The world is rebuilding its power grid — and the copper that winds every transformer has become a strategic bottleneck. Asta Energy Solutions isn’t just supplying conductor materials; they’re recycling old copper windings into new CTC conductors and betting on 20+ years of transformer demand.

At the 2026 IEEE PES T&D Show in Chicago, we sat down with Thomas Schneider, CSO of Asta Energy Solutions. With 25 years in the transformer industry — from VA Tech Elin in Austria to Siemens Energy, and now leading growth strategy at Asta — Thomas explains why the power transformer market is in a “growth, growth, growth” cycle and what comes after the current investment supercycle.

Key Takeaways:

• The power transformer market is experiencing unprecedented growth, with OEMs expanding from 138kV up to 765kV — a major technical leap in insulation systems and competency
• Asta specializes in premium continuously transposed conductors (CTC), where quality differences are measured in microns
• Synchronous condenser deployments are driving new demand for Roebel bar windings for stator and rotor applications
• Industry executives expect a second investment cycle starting in the early 2030s, driven by hyperscaler data centers and AI factories
• Asta completed a successful IPO in January, listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
• The company is installing 20% additional capacity in Asia, 40% in Brazil, and 60% more in Europe
• Long-term customer agreements — a new business model in the transformer supply chain
• Asta’s copper recycling and upcasting process cuts CO₂ emissions by 50%, a sustainability advantage attracting European TSOs and US corporations alike
• With factories in Europe, India, China, and Brazil, Asta serves the US market from its European and Latin American facilities