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flow....What's your take? Good concession or just a short reprieve?
General Boards - Politics
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Replies: 6
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flow....What's your take? Good concession or just a short reprieve?

1
Apr 5, 2024, 12:54 PM
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https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-finalizes-distribution-transformer-rule/712229/

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Re: flow....What's your take? Good concession or just a short reprieve?

1
Apr 5, 2024, 1:07 PM
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Follow the money? Who has stock in these companies or has a brother who is CEO?

"There are more than 60 million distribution transformers mounted on utility poles nationwide, and DOE officials say installations are projected to triple by 2050 as demand for electricity rises. However, there is only one producer of GOES for distribution transformers in North America, Cleveland Cliffs in Ohio and Pennsylvania. There is also just one producer of amorphous steel cores, South Carolina-based Metglas."

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One way to buy votes in Ohio and Pennsylvania...


Apr 6, 2024, 10:14 AM
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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cleveland-cliffs-selected-receive-575-101200310.html

It's all about the 'Green'...

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Not sure what you mean....


Apr 6, 2024, 12:13 PM [ in reply to Re: flow....What's your take? Good concession or just a short reprieve? ]
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I don't think you're following the situation correctly. There are basically 2 kinds of steel...normal and amorphous. The latter has lower losses and the DOE was calling for lower loss designs belt a specific year by regulation.

Neither of the US producers supplies the bulk of the market. The only real protection of these domestic companies is the 25% Trump tariff, but even with that, it's normally still cheaper to import these kinds of steel. For some reason, we don't seem to be good or want to be good at making electrical grade steel in the US.

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I understood the difference regarding the 2 types during the last conversation.


Apr 6, 2024, 12:32 PM
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It's still the same ol' offshoring environment that created the situation and denigrated American industry.

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Had to be extended...as the piece mentioned...


Apr 6, 2024, 12:08 PM
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There is already a serious lead-time issue and the LTs aren't 18 mos, they're more like 36 mos. Most of the distribution xfmr manufacturers have put customers on allocation.

Requiring lower loss designs made some sense at the time, but there must isn't enough capacity, domestic or intl, of amorphous steel (lower loss steel). I don't know why that is exactly.

In the US, as mentioned, there is only 1 source for GOES ("normal" steel) and 1 source for amorphous steel. Both manufacturers supply a small fraction of the over electrical steel used. You can't even get the kind we use in our transformers in the US, unless you're want to pay 5 times premium for it. Big failing under the Trump and Biden admin not to attract more producers. It is a national security issue and Trump's stupid trade war with China did nothing to help the situation.

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Was it addressed in Biden's "Infrastructure Bill"...? T-Rump's gone.


Apr 6, 2024, 12:27 PM
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Got to have them for the grid to work but we'll push EVs and alternate energy first before we're capable of actually distributing it...?

Cart before the horse but a lot of people got government subsidies and made money; national security aside.

It use to be 'if there's a demand, someone invests in the supply'... AI farms are going to add to the needs. Where are the investors?

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Replies: 6
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