President & CEO, Tenova Inc.
The 2020s have ushered in the most significant transformation of America’s power system since the dawn of electrification. Utilities and manufacturers are committing at unprecedented scale to rebuild the backbone of the US economy. However, the way these investments are made will play a critical role in securing a resilient and sustainable industrial future. As a leading provider of advanced electrical steel technologies, combined with a deep presence in the US metals industry, Tenova is uniquely positioned to enable reshored access to this critical material for an overhauled electric power system.
The United States stands at a decisive juncture in its economic and industrial history. The combined forces of artificial intelligence, data-driven manufacturing, and electrified transportation are driving unprecedented electricity demand. Yet the nation’s electric power system, once the envy of the world, is strained by decades of underinvestment, supply chain fragility, and policy inconsistency. Its vulnerabilities such as aging infrastructure, transformer shortages, cyber threats, and dependence on foreign materials pose serious risks to its stability. At the core of these challenges lies a strategic imperative: the United States must rebuild self-sufficiency in critical electric-grid materials, particularly electrical steel, and restore its capacity to manufacture and deploy the infrastructure that powers its economy and society.
The Unrelenting Growth in Electricity Demand
Recent government and financial analyses converge on one message: U.S. electricity demand is surging faster than expected. According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), projected load growth over the next decade has nearly doubled - from 6.1% to roughly 11.6% - driven primarily by AI data centers, industrial reshoring, and broad electrification. Utilities are therefore investing more than ever before to meet this unprecedent demand. However, producing more power is only half the challenge. Delivering it reliably, securely, and affordably through an aging grid is the true test ahead.
Electricity demand in numbers
- Morningstar DBRS and the Edison Electric Institute estimate that utilities will invest about 1.4 trillion dollars between 2025 and 2030. This is roughly double the spending of the previous decade.
- With 208 billion dollars already invested in 2025 alone, this represents the largest annual grid outlay in U.S. history, marking the beginning of a historic capital-expenditure super-cycle.
- Data centers alone could account for 44% of total U.S. load growth between 2023 and 2028, consuming up to 9% of national generation by 2030, twice their current share.
- Energy Information Administration’s September 2025 Short-Term Energy Outlook states that electricity generation is forecast to rise by 2.3% in 2025 and 3% in 2026, ending decades of near-zero growth.
Bottlenecks in the Heart of the Grid: Transformers and Electrical Steel
One of the most acute vulnerabilities in America’s electric grid is the transformer supply chain. Lead times for large transformers, once measured in months, now extend up to three years, according to Hitachi Energy. These machines are indispensable for voltage transformation and distribution, and their scarcity threatens to delay new generation projects, data center connections, and electrification efforts across industries.
At the root of this bottleneck lies U.S. dependence on imported grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES), the essential material used in transformer cores. GOES is among the most technologically demanding and capital-intensive steels to produce. A greenfield facility capable of producing only a hundred thousand tons per year can cost as much as a plant producing one million tons of conventional hot-rolled steel.
Producing GOES requires an intricate sequence of advanced thermal and mechanical processes: annealing and pickling with acid regeneration, precision cold rolling on 18- or 20-high mills, decarburizing and magnesia coating, multi-stack bell annealing, flattening, coating, laser scribing, and slitting. Each step demands proprietary know-how and process control. From annealing lines to cold mills and advanced heat-treatment furnaces, Tenova’s solutions define the benchmark for quality, yield, and environmental performance in electrical steel production.
Today, US domestic GOES manufacturing meets only 10-15 % of national demand, relying heavily on imports from abroad. Encouragingly, new private investments suggest a change in direction, with leading companies, such as Siemens, General Electric and Hitachi, announcing major transformer manufacturing expansions in the country. Yet true resilience will depend not only on assembly capacity, but on domestic access to every critical material and process, especially GOES.
This is where advanced technology partners such as Tenova come in. With the largest installed base of reference plants worldwide, Tenova is the leading global provider of the technologies required to produce GOES. Thanks to its deep presence in the US metals industry, combined with decades of metallurgical expertise, the company’s integrated, digitalized, and advanced energy-efficient lines make it uniquely positioned to facilitate the rebuilding of electrical steel supply chains.
Balancing massive infrastructure investment with affordability will be instrumental in ensuring a sustainable and resilient electrical power system. It will require coordination between regulators, utilities, and manufacturers. In this context, technological efficiency such as that embedded in Tenova’s low-emission furnaces and digital process control is a competitive advantage, reducing both energy costs and carbon intensity.
Innovation and the Future Grid
Looking ahead, the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Fusion Roadmap envisions fusion energy as a cornerstone of American independence in the 2030s. This effort will depend on advanced materials such as superconductors, high-grade steels, and precision alloys, all of which intersect with Tenova’s technology portfolio.
The same holds true for today’s AI-driven electrification boom. Behind every data center and every electric vehicle charging network lies a transformer, and behind every transformer lies GOES, the most critical of magnetic steels.
Every essential function of modern life, from health care and water to transportation, communications, and defense, depends on uninterrupted electricity. And electricity, in turn, depends on high-grade steel. Rebuilding this foundation will require a coordinated national strategy that combines policy incentives, private investment, and technological leadership.
Priorities include:
- Rebuilding Domestic GOES Production: Incentivizing high-permeability GOES manufacturing through tax credits, loan guarantees, and public-private partnerships.
- Establishing a Strategic Transformer Reserve: Ensuring readiness for rapid recovery after natural disasters or cyberattacks.
- Streamlining Permitting: Accelerating transmission corridor development to integrate renewables.
- Implementing a National Grid Manufacturing Strategy: Mirroring the CHIPS and battery programs for the electric materials sector.
None of these goals can be achieved without advanced process technology. With its engineering depth, sustainability-driven innovation, and proven references, Tenova continues to lead the way in the production of electrical steels, helping its partners improve and expand electrical grid infrastructures for a secure, green, and electrified future.
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