As global capital pours into AI computing infrastructure, a neglected problem is emerging-transformers may be more popular than chips. Transformers may also restrict the development of new energy sources such as photovoltaics in the future!
From the "sunset industry" to the strategic resources in short supply, the story of transformers is being quietly rewritten in the resonance of global grid upgrading, AI computing power explosion and new energy grid connection.
Huge investments were made in the "sunset industry"
at the beginning of this year. Heron Power, an international energy infrastructure company, announced the completion of the Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) American Dynamism Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures co-led a $140 million B round of financing (equivalent to 940 million yuan).
With this financing, Heron Power will build a 40 GW highly automated U.S. manufacturing facility for Heron Link. In addition to manufacturing scale, this capital accelerates Heron Power's mission to generate and deliver more economically, reliably, and responsively.
Heron Link builds solid-state transformer solutions for Heron's critical energy and AI data center projects that simplify the connection of low-voltage DC technologies (such as solar, batteries, and AI computing) to the medium-voltage AC grid. Eliminate the need for heavy, expensive transformers with long lead times.
"Power demand is accelerating and our traditional grid simply can't bear it," said Dave Danielson, partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. "Heron is redesigning one of the most critical bottlenecks in the grid with next-generation solid-state transformers.".
AI + new energy is "eating" the grid
transformer, which seems to be the traditional power equipment, is precisely the core of the grid upgrade.
In recent years, the global renewable energy power generation such as photovoltaic and wind power is experiencing explosive growth, and the pace of global new energy grid connection is accelerating. The installed capacity of photovoltaic and wind power continues to rise, and a large number of distributed generations are connected to the grid, which requires a sharp increase in voltage conversion and grid stability.
At the same time, the demand for power in data centers is growing exponentially. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global data center electricity consumption may double by 2026. This means that the competition of AI is not only the competition of chips, but also the competition of electricity, which can not be delivered to data centers without transformers.
AI computing power explosion and new energy grid connection are forming a "two-way squeeze" on the global power grid: one end is the surge in electricity load, the other end is a profound change in the power supply structure. The power grid sandwiched in the middle is in urgent need of upgrading and expansion.
However, the development of transformer industry, which was once called "sunset industry", may not be able to keep up with the growth of demand in a short time.
From "sunset industry" to "strategic bottleneck"
as the "central nervous system" of power transmission and conversion, transformers undertake voltage conversion, current conversion, impedance matching and electrical quarantine, and are widely used in power generation, transmission and distribution, new energy grid-connected, industrial control and data centers and other fields. With the rapid development of the
new energy industry, the explosive growth of the demand for AI data center construction, and the necessary upgrading of the old global power grid infrastructure, the demand for transformers has also shown an explosive growth.
However, global transformer production capacity lags far behind demand.
Citigroup research shows that in 2025, the global supply of high-voltage transformers is about 2358.5 GVA, the demand is as high as 3066 GVA, the annual shortage is about 707.5 GVA, and the gap ratio is close to 30%. What's more, the shortfall is not a short-term phenomenon — Citi predicts that the supply crunch will last at least until 2029, with the cumulative shortfall peaking at about 1699 GVA by 2028.
For the photovoltaic industry, this bottleneck can not be ignored. The lag of power grid infrastructure has been the biggest obstacle to consumption; when the investment in power grid is really accelerated, the grid-connected space of new energy sources such as photovoltaic will also be opened. However, the problems of "grid-connected difficulty" and "absorption difficulty" have become increasingly prominent. In many cases, the project jam is not due to components or inverters , but the lack of sufficient transformer capacity on the grid side to complete the boost and transmission.
For the photovoltaic industry, the shortage of transformers may be becoming a new hidden ceiling for new energy grid connection.
浙公网安备33010802003254号