Back in April of last year, I thought that the Washington influence-industrial complex had finally come up with solutions for the Great Transformer Shortage that has been choking expansion of the electric grid.
Thanks for making me aware of this important matter. I had no idea that the acquisition of these devices was a constraint in upgrading the electric grid which is already inadequate in places and will certainly be overwhelmed by the exploding demand for electricity for computing and data storage.
It is ironic that the revolutionary design in machine learning bringing us large language models is called “transformer”. Thus it can be said the promise of the transformer computing architecture risks being curtailed by inadequate provision of electric transformers.
What would Elon think ? His Empire is vulnerable as a result of the transformer shortage. Will Mr Efficiency solve the problem? Will the Trump admin.even acknowledge it’s an issue ?
I assume a similar issue pertains in the U.K., where recent storms have knocked out electric supply for days on end. The feeling one gets is that the electricity grid is as under-invested as the water/sewage system. But as no-one speaks French in the U.K. anymore and the privatisation of energy has led to the whole kit and caboodle dependent on a French state-owned utility, no-one talks about it much.
Ref your column, I will gladly pay if you can assure delivery. Last time I forked out I got about four of five pieces and then …. No explanation.
A fascinating topic as most of your topics are. The 'Electrical Infrastructure Trade' might get rather interesting in a trade war.
What does 'GOES' stand for?
Unfortunately, while you mentioned the U.S. company that makes steel for the transformers, you did not mention the entities that make the actual transformers. Are there ANY U.S. companies that make transformers?
By the way, since you are revisiting the transformer issue in this post, you might consider revisiting the 'Crypto Bros' topic as well since the new U.S. administration appears to be going 'all in' on Crypto. But you might need to hire a staff to cover that one.
Ted Koppel wrote about the vulnerabilities of the U.S.electrical grid in his 2015 book "Lights Out," which showed how large transformers are important and very slow and difficult to replace, but are often unprotected. Regulators and Homeland Security didn't want to hear about the problems, or didn't understand them. So what happens if China says to stay away from defending Taiwan or it will cut off power to Chicago? Koppel's book is good reading but alarming.
DearJohn:
Thanks for making me aware of this important matter. I had no idea that the acquisition of these devices was a constraint in upgrading the electric grid which is already inadequate in places and will certainly be overwhelmed by the exploding demand for electricity for computing and data storage.
It is ironic that the revolutionary design in machine learning bringing us large language models is called “transformer”. Thus it can be said the promise of the transformer computing architecture risks being curtailed by inadequate provision of electric transformers.
Sincerely,
Saleh
What would Elon think ? His Empire is vulnerable as a result of the transformer shortage. Will Mr Efficiency solve the problem? Will the Trump admin.even acknowledge it’s an issue ?
Last time around, Lighthizer cut a deal to exempt Mexico and set them up as a back door for GOES transshipment and associated transformers. Why would that not continue? https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/press-releases/2020/november/ustr-statement-successful-conclusion-steel-negotiations-mexico
I assume a similar issue pertains in the U.K., where recent storms have knocked out electric supply for days on end. The feeling one gets is that the electricity grid is as under-invested as the water/sewage system. But as no-one speaks French in the U.K. anymore and the privatisation of energy has led to the whole kit and caboodle dependent on a French state-owned utility, no-one talks about it much.
Ref your column, I will gladly pay if you can assure delivery. Last time I forked out I got about four of five pieces and then …. No explanation.
A fascinating topic as most of your topics are. The 'Electrical Infrastructure Trade' might get rather interesting in a trade war.
What does 'GOES' stand for?
Unfortunately, while you mentioned the U.S. company that makes steel for the transformers, you did not mention the entities that make the actual transformers. Are there ANY U.S. companies that make transformers?
By the way, since you are revisiting the transformer issue in this post, you might consider revisiting the 'Crypto Bros' topic as well since the new U.S. administration appears to be going 'all in' on Crypto. But you might need to hire a staff to cover that one.
Just pay $20 a month for the pro version of ChatGPT, paste the article in, and ask any contextual questions you have
Ted Koppel wrote about the vulnerabilities of the U.S.electrical grid in his 2015 book "Lights Out," which showed how large transformers are important and very slow and difficult to replace, but are often unprotected. Regulators and Homeland Security didn't want to hear about the problems, or didn't understand them. So what happens if China says to stay away from defending Taiwan or it will cut off power to Chicago? Koppel's book is good reading but alarming.