Supply chain bottlenecks that have long constrained an expansion of electricity grids are showing signs of easing, but plenty of other mammoth challenges remain, an executive at a major power infrastructure firm told Semafor.
Executives and officials from across the energy sector have voiced worry about the fast-growing pressure on grids thanks to increased demand from widespread electrification and speedy buildouts of AI data centers, as well as constraints on the manufacture of key components — including transmission cables and power transformers. “That supply chain is now responding,” Steve Smith, the chief strategy and regulation officer at the UK’s National Grid, said in an interview. “People are building new factories.”
Yet, Smith warned, the highly specialized nature of the equipment being built means “there will be lags,” and other huge obstacles such as a lack of skilled labor show little sign of being overcome in the short term. Another key factor, he added, is the limits on how much installation or expansion work could be done on a live network — National Grid operates in both the UK and US — while keeping it up for the population to retain access to electricity. “We’re constrained in almost every aspect,” he said, “and therefore it just becomes, how do you think creatively… to unlock those constraints.”