The Energy Department published final energy efficiency requirements Thursday for distribution transformers, standards meant to pursue the administration’s goal of making power grids more efficient and resilient, while also taking into account concerns raised by industry and labor groups over its stringent emissions requirements and time frame.
According to the final rule, transformer cores will now be required to be made with 75% amorphous steel — down from its originally proposed 95% requirement. Manufacturers will also have five years, rather than three, to comply.
The final rule marks a compromise between the Biden administration and industry groups, which had argued DOE’s earlier amorphous steel target would be all but impossible to meet in the three-year time frame, given the lack of current domestic production and the need for anticipated workforce reskilling.
Amorphous steel, which relies on an ultra-thin metal, is considered to be much more efficient than traditional, grain-oriented steel used in U.S. transformer cores. It also carr …