A manufacturer finds the right building, lines up the equipment, and has customers ready to place orders. The financing is approved. There is room to expand. Then a question comes up that should have been asked before any of those decisions were made.
Electricity deserves more attention in the conversation about American manufacturing. We talk about tariffs, labor shortages, interest rates, and bringing production back home. All of those matter. But every new factory and every expanded production line also needs an electrical system capable of supporting it.
In its September outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast record electricity consumption, with data center development and increased manufacturing activity helping drive the growth. Electricity sales are expected to rise almost 2% in 2026 and nearly another 2% in 2027. Those national figures provide useful context, but a plant manager needs a much more local answer: what can the utility deliver to this particular building? Source: EIA
The data center boom adds another consideration. Artificial intelligence may seem far removed from a machine shop or a metal fabricator, but the facilities behind it need physical infrastructure. Servers need electricity and cooling. That puts power delivery into the same conversation as the technology itself. PJM, the grid operator serving a large portion of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, has made accommodating new data centers and other large customers while maintaining reliability and affordability a specific priority this year. Source: PJM
For manufacturers, the practical concern is what happens between approving an expansion and starting production.
Consider a shop adding machining centers, a larger air compressor, and more cooling capacity. Each purchase may make sense on its own. Together, they may require an electrical upgrade that changes the cost and schedule of the entire project. An empty spot on the shop floor does not tell you whether the building can support what you plan to put there.
The equipment that delivers electricity matters just as much as the equipment that consumes it. Transformers, switchgear, and the utility connection belong in the expansion budget from the beginning. The Department of Energy has identified long lead times for critical grid components as an obstacle to expanding infrastructure and serving new customers. A production schedule needs to account for that possibility before machinery starts arriving at the loading dock. Source: Department of Energy
None of this means every manufacturer is facing a power shortage. Conditions differ by region, utility, and property. That is exactly why broad assurances about available electricity are not enough when a company is committing its own money.
As manufacturers put together their 2027 budgets, the electrical conversation should happen alongside the equipment conversation. What can the existing service support? What upgrades would additional production require? Who is responsible for them, what will they cost, and when can they be completed? Those answers can affect which building makes sense and how quickly an expansion can earn its keep.
America’s manufacturing ambitions depend on a great deal of ordinary infrastructure. The production line gets the attention. The transformer outside generally does not.
But when the orders are waiting and the machines are ready, that transformer becomes a very important piece of equipment.
