The Switchgear Shortage Nobody's Talking About
The Switchgear Shortage Nobody's Talking About (Because Everyone's Still Talking About Transformers)
Most of what gets written about the grid equipment shortage stops at transformers. That's understandable — the numbers are dramatic, and transformers are the equipment everyone already understood to be expensive and slow to build. But talk to an EPC contractor who's actually procuring for a 2026 project, and transformers aren't the only thing keeping them up at night. Switchgear is right behind them, and in some categories, it's worse.
High-voltage circuit breaker lead times have stretched to roughly 125 weeks, according to Wood Mackenzie data — longer than the lead time on plenty of transformer classes. Medium-voltage switchgear has pushed past 60 weeks as of May 2026, up from an average of 44 weeks just six months earlier. That's not a shortage leveling off. That's one still getting worse, in real time.
Why the two shortages are actually one shortage
It's tempting to treat the transformer story and the switchgear story as two separate supply chain problems that happen to be running at the same time. They're not. They share the same upstream constraint.
Grain-oriented electrical steel — GOES — is the core lamination material used in transformer cores and in the internal components of switchgear and circuit breakers alike. Production capacity for GOES is limited globally, and in the US specifically, there's only one domestic manufacturer. When that single material input tightens, it doesn't just slow down one product category. It slows down every product category built on top of it, at the same time, for the same reason.
Layer onto that a demand side that's pulling from four directions at once — data center buildouts, EV charging infrastructure, renewable energy interconnection, and a wave of grid equipment replacement that was already overdue before any of the above started accelerating — and you get a supply chain where transformers, switchgear, ring main units, and circuit breakers are all competing for the same finite pool of factory capacity and raw material, rather than taking turns.
What it's actually doing to project timelines
The consequence isn't abstract. Reporting this year has estimated that nearly half of planned US data center developments are at risk of delay or outright cancellation specifically because of power infrastructure and electrical component shortages — and switchgear and batteries are named alongside transformers as the cause, not as an afterthought.
That pattern isn't confined to data centers, and it isn't confined to the US. Any project with a substantial medium-voltage switchgear or ring main unit scope — a commercial development, an industrial facility, a renewable energy interconnection — is running into the same procurement math: a schedule built around a 6-to-12-month switchgear delivery window now needs to assume something closer to 14 to 18 months, and in some cases longer.
What this means for how switchgear gets sourced
The response that's worked for transformer procurement applies just as directly here. Sourcing early — before permitting wraps up, not after — gives a project a real shot at a manufacturing slot instead of a place in a backlog. And the difference between a trading intermediary and a manufacturer with its own production capacity matters more in a tight market than it does in a loose one, because a trading company can offer a price but not a factory slot.
It's also worth specifying switchgear from a manufacturer that already covers the full range a project is likely to need — ring main units, metal-enclosed switchgear, low-voltage draw-out switchgear — rather than sourcing each category separately, since that's one less set of lead times to coordinate independently.
Where EUE Power fits into this
We manufacture ring main units (CKAS-12, CKAI-12, and CKFL-12/24 series), KYN28A metal-enclosed drawout switchgear, and GCK/GCS/MNS low-voltage switchgear at our own facility in Jiangxi, alongside our transformer and substation lines, certified to CE and CQC standards. The transformer shortage has gotten most of the attention over the past year. The switchgear side of the same problem deserves the same amount of planning.
Frequently asked questions
Why are switchgear and circuit breaker lead times so long in 2026?
Demand from data centers, EV infrastructure, renewable energy interconnection, and overdue grid replacement is converging on the same manufacturing capacity, while the supply of grain-oriented electrical steel — the core material used in both transformers and switchgear — remains severely constrained.
Demand from data centers, EV infrastructure, renewable energy interconnection, and overdue grid replacement is converging on the same manufacturing capacity, while the supply of grain-oriented electrical steel — the core material used in both transformers and switchgear — remains severely constrained.
Is the switchgear shortage the same problem as the transformer shortage?
Largely, yes. Both rely on grain-oriented electrical steel and compete for overlapping factory capacity, so tightness in one category tends to show up in the other at the same time rather than independently.
How long are typical lead times for medium-voltage switchgear and ring main units in 2026?
Medium-voltage switchgear lead times have exceeded 60 weeks as of May 2026, up from roughly 44 weeks in late 2025, with high-voltage circuit breakers running even longer at around 125 weeks in some cases. Specific lead times vary by manufacturer, voltage class, and order volume.
How can EPC contractors reduce delays caused by switchgear lead times? Sourcing switchgear and ring main units early — ideally before a project is fully permitted — and working with a manufacturer that holds its own production capacity across the full switchgear range, rather than coordinating separate suppliers for each equipment category, tends to produce more reliable delivery timelines.
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