Electrical Steel

Cleveland-Cliffs chief Lourenco Goncalves argues that grain-oriented electrical steel from the Butler Works plant, the only domestic producer, is critical to the US grid as the Department of Energy revisits its distribution-transformer efficiency rule. The original proposal would have shifted transformer cores toward amorphous steel, threatening more than 1,000 union jobs at the Pennsylvania mill.

Surging AI data-center construction is deepening shortages of transformers and other grid equipment across the US, with lead times for some high-voltage units stretching from one year to more than three. The crunch is raising equipment costs and straining utilities' expansion plans.

Think tank GTRI warned that a proposed anti-dumping duty on cold-rolled grain-oriented electrical steel, which covers about 90% of India's import needs, could raise transformer manufacturing costs and slow the country's grid buildout. India's trade-remedies agency has opened a probe into CRGO imports from China, Japan, Korea and Russia.