The IEEE PES T&D 2026 Conference & Exposition in Chicago highlighted a power industry confronting an unprecedented equation: soaring demand, aging in frastructure, and limited resources. With AI data centers driving record electricity consumption and transformer lead times stretching for years, utilities and suppliers are being forced to rethink how they build, maintain, and optimize the grid.
Across the show floor, a common theme emerged. Solving scarcity will require more than steel and copper. It will depend on extending asset life, accelerating manufacturing, deploying digital intelligence, and extracting more value from every existing piece of infrastructure
Ben Lanz / Sr. Director, Industry & External Affairs – Osmose
With the U.S. grid carrying an estimated $6.5 trillion replacement value and annual replacement rates remaining below 1%, Osmose sees life extension as one of the industry’s most important strategies. The focus is shifting from replacing aging infrastructure to maximizing the value of assets already in service.
I firmly believe that if the regulators and the utilites and the vendors understand that the societal impact, the positive societal impact of life extension, we will be much better off.
Jim Cai / General Manager – JSHP Transformer
While shortages continue to impact transformer procurement worldwide, JSHP is scaling through volume. Producing two to three 100 MW transformers daily, the company is delivering critical infrastructure for utilities and data centers in less than a year.
We really can deliver really quick. We got a lot of orders from around the world for the data center application, and we can deliver in less than a year.
Ivan Paić / Board Member – KONČAR Group
As renewable energy and data center demand reshape grid operations, KONČAR
believes physical infrastructure upgrades must be matched with digitalization.
The company is expanding its U.S. presence while emphasizing predictive main
tenance and smarter asset management.
Reinforcing the grid is probably the biggest challenge that US is facing today.
Jon Bucciarelli / President – SDMyers
Bucciarelli highlighted a growing challenge among industrial operators that of
ten lack dedicated electrical engineering resources. In today’s environment, pre
ventative maintenance remains one of the most effective tools for avoiding cat
astrophic failures.
Keep that transformer in reliable shape and it will last for decades. And it will be safe.
Arclin – Engineer / Evanne Wang
Global Technology Manager, Nomex® and Kevlar® Paper / Casey Ballard
As utilities and data centers push for more capacity without expanding physical footprints, Nomex® insulation is helping transformers operate at higher power ratings while maintaining long-term reliability under demanding thermal conditions.
Where we fit in we can give them a much higher expansion rate of their power and nameplate for MVA withouth having to grow an actual footprint, said Casey Ballard, Global Technology Manager
Beta Enerji – Head of Sales / Mahmut Sami Saka
In a market where transformer lead times often stretch between three and five years, Beta Enerji’s new 120,000 sqm facility has turned availability into a key differentiator, delivering power transformers in less than one year.
There is one word in our sector: transformer is needed for yesterday.
ASTA Energy Solutions – Chief Sales Officer / Thomas Schneider
ASTA Energy Solutions believes today’s investment cycle is only the beginning. As hyperscale data centers and AI factories continue to expand, the company expects another major wave of transformer manufacturing investment in the early 2030s, supported by its integrated copper recycling process.
In the early 2030s, [the market] expects another investment cycle with even more transformer factories needed to cope with the huge energy demand of the super or hyperscalers – data centers and AI factories.
Lee Doyle / Senior Sales Manager, Power –Vaisala
As insurers and utilities place greater emphasis on asset health, Vaisala is focusing on reliable monitoring data through self-calibrating sensor technology. The company’s approach prioritizes long-term accuracy with minimal maintenance requirements.
We make our sensor from the ground up. It adheres to our higher standard, and it allows us the flexibility to move into a lot of different applicaitons.
Mac Spiller / Chief Commercial Officer – Maddox Industrial Transformer
Regulatory change and new competition are rapidly reshaping the transformer industry. Spiller pointed to DOE 2029 efficiency regulations and a wave of new market entrants as forces that will transform the competitive landscape.
I think that te commercial landscape for the transformer industry is going to be just totally unrecognizable in the next 2 years.
Nirav Patel / Executive Director, Sales & Management – Yash Highvoltage
Scarcity is reshaping demand, engineering collaboration, and procurement across
the transformer ecosystem. In response, YASH is expanding capacity, separating
production across facilities, and strengthening its supply chain through renewable-powered operations and long-term supplier forecasting. The constraint is systemic rather than isolated:
Unfortunately, we are all adding to the constraint. It’s a convergence of a several factors, including available capacity, not only at our premises, but also out supply chain, which is constrained, which is why the lead times are expanding.
Intellirent
Intellirent is scaling its fleet with a $20 million investment to accommodate a 30% growth surge driven by the infrastructure demands of data centers, which now represent 40% of their service company rentals. To support field crews, they operate a high-speed logistics network delivering equipment within two days and provide a 24/7 technical hotline to ensure technicians receive immediate, expert human assistance.
Data centers is the big buzzword right now… and I would say that in our rental to the service companies, 40% of that is going on data center projects. And it is that big. It truly is.
Virginia Transformer
As the largest U.S.-owned transformer manufacturer, Virginia Transformer is addressing supply constraints through its “Engineering First” philosophy. Leveraging more than 20,000 reference designs, the company is building transformers designed to significantly outlast standard industry expectations.
Everything starts with design. If design is flawed, there’s nothing you can do. You could have a perfect production, the process could be wonderful, but design has to be robust, said Joshua Yun, Senior VP of Sales.
Qualitrol
As utilities face growing volumes of operational data, Qualitrol is using GridAssist to transform disturbance records into actionable insights. By reducing fault analysis from hours to minutes, the AI-powered platform helps utilities make faster decisions while keeping field crews out of unnecessary risk.
The best way to look at AI in our space is that AI is just assisting the human to make correct decisions faster, said Phil Caruso, Sr. Director, Product & Marketing.
Trench Group
The race to power AI is driving renewed investment in ultra-high-voltage infrastructure. Trench Group is localizing production of its bushing technology in Charlotte, NC, supporting the 765 kV transmission backbone needed to modernize the grid and connect massive new loads.
Whoever is first on the grid is the first to train the AI models and is going to be having an advantage in this whole competition, said Bahadir Basdere, Chief Executive Officer
IEEE PES T&D 2026 made one thing clear: scarcity is no longer a temporary challenge—it is the industry’s operating environment. Whether through life extension, AI-powered analytics, advanced materials, or expanded manufacturing capacity, the companies leading the next phase of grid modernization are focused on extracting more value from every asset while preparing for an increasingly electrified future.
SDMyers
With replacement transformers increasingly difficult to source, SDMyers introduced InsulMax, a continuous oil purification system designed to remove moisture and acids before they compromise transformer performance. The goal is simple: extend asset life through proactive maintenance.
We are trying to focus on… a more proactive and preventative approach to maintaining and promoting the health of our customers’ valuable assets, said Will Cooley, Sales Manager – Substation Services
Petro-Canada Lubricants / HF Sinclair
For transformers operating in dense urban environments and critical infrastructure applications, Luminol SE provides an added layer of protection through its high fire point, biodegradability, and natural self-extinguishing characteristics.
Luminol SE has natural self-extinguishing characterstics which helps limit fire propagation. This is especially critical for indoor transformes, hospitals, transit systems or urban installations where fire risk simply is not negotiable, said Alex Gilliver, National Account Manager, HF Sinclair
Systems With Intelligence
Utilities are increasingly moving toward condition-based maintenance, and Systems With Intelligence is supporting that shift through continuous monitoring technologies capable of identifying issues long before scheduled inspections.
The benefit of our solution is that we’re looking at these assets continuously, 24/7, 365 days a year, said Brad Bowness, SWI Chief Intelligence Officer
NOARK Electric and Chint Group
As renewable energy deployment accelerates, NOARK and Chint see pad-mounted transformers playing a critical role in connecting distribution networks to residential, commercial, and industrial users where traditional overhead solutions are impractical.
Padmount transformers can fit into solutions requiring space-saving, safe, reliable power distribution, acting as the bridge between high-voltage grid lines and residental, commercial, industrial end users where overhead lines are impractical and undesirable.
Texas Transformers & Equipment
By combining manufacturing operations in Mumbai with assembly capabilities in Dallas, Texas Transformers is scaling production to support growing North American demand for pad-mounted and power transformers.
The number of products that we have installed and commissioned are 200+ and we are expecting those to run in thousands going ahead.
TSEA Energy
TSEA is establishing a voltage regulator facility in Eden, NC, with a strategy built around speed and flexibility. Backed by venture capital, the company believes faster decision-making is a competitive advantage as infrastructure demand continues to rise.
Infrastructure is crippling more than people know, more than people realize, more that people are ready to admit in public.
Electronsystem
Specializing in monitoring solutions since 1999, Electronsystem showcased a new oil-focused transmitter capable of measuring moisture levels in real time, helping operators maintain stable transformer performance and heat transfer.
This is the newborn device which is specifiaclly designed for oil… capable of measuring the parameters inside the oil and transmit the ppm of water.
This article was originally published in the June 2026 issue of the Grid Modernization and Flexibility magazine.
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