Solving the Gridlock: America’s Electric Supply Chain Opportunity

RMI (authors Ellie Garland and Ben Feshbach) publish policy recommendations for federal policymakers to strengthen the US grid supply chain and deploy newly available authorities and funding.

• Main announcement / action: RMI recommends DOE and Congress use newly available tools — including $375 million appropriated to DOE’s Office of Electricity (Jan 2026) and a Defense Production Act (DPA) determination (Apr 2026) — to boost domestic grid manufacturing capacity, coordination, and competitiveness; the brief cites recent private investments such as Hitachi Energy’s $1 billion factory in Virginia and Siemens Energy’s target to add US transformer capacity by 2027.
• Background and concrete details: The paper documents current supply constraints: domestic production met only 20% of US LPT demand in 2025, US grid equipment imports exceeded $30 billion in 2024, transformer prices have risen ~75% and cable costs have doubled since 2019; recommended interventions include near-term bottle‑neck relief, tax and loan incentives, DPA/anchor-buying strategies, workforce initiatives, and RD&D pilot programs.