Peace Garden News

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, joined Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and 45 of his colleagues on a bipartisan letter urging the Department of Energy (DOE) to refrain from finalizing a proposed rule which would require all distribution transformers to shift from the current industry standard to amorphous steel cores.

This would significantly add to the cost of distribution transformers and increase grid instability by limiting availability of essential equipment. The senators also requested a briefing with Secretary Jennifer Granholm on the development of the proposal and how DOE can address the supply chain challenges facing distribution transformers with its existing authority.

“Currently, the United States only has one domestic producer of amorphous steel. Moving to amorphous steel cores, as proposed by DOE, would require this sole domestic supplier to rapidly scale operations from its current market share of less than five percent to accommodate the entire distribution transformer market. Such a recalibration of the supply chain will further delay manufacturing production timelines – currently estimated to be a minimum of 18 months to two years,” wrote the senators.

“By phasing out the primary market for U.S.-produced GOES, the Proposed Rule could jeopardize this progress, putting everyday American families at risk. Further, we are concerned that requiring the use of amorphous steel for new distribution transformers could put the administration’s electrification goals at risk by exacerbating an existing grid vulnerability. At the same time, we recognize the numerous and often underappreciated benefits of energy efficiency and support the overall goal of reducing wasteful electrical losses in our distribution grid. We believe the most prudent course of action is to let both GOES and amorphous steel cores coexist in the market, as they do today without government mandates, for new installations as we ramp up domestic production and reorient supply chains,” continued the Senators.

“We are committed to working with you to identify short and long-term solutions to the supply chain shortage of these critical grid components with a goal of building a robust domestic market and a more efficient and reliable grid for decades to come,” concluded the senators.

Click here to read the letter.

Original source can be found here.