Comment by joe_the_user
4 months ago
An article that deeply buries the lede under elementary facts about electrical transmission.
Transformers are made in specialized factories and use specialized components made in even more specialized factories. Expanding production requires not just immediate demand but commitment to future demand because a factory is a very expensive thing. The big thing is that increased demand often involves a demand that won't continue for a long period of time.
You could see the same thing with both masks and vaccines during covid - ramping up ten factories to meet a temporary demand would be very expensive.
They're also heavy. The tragedy of Russia destroying the Ukrainian An-225 was it was one of the only ways to move very big grid scale transformers on short notice.
This is a problem in strategic reserve territory.
Maybe few manufacturers of specialized components colluded to not increase much production capacity, even with increased demand, so that prices don't collapse.