Insulation pressboard and paper
Cellulose paper and pressboard are the solid insulation the public large-power-transformer review describes. This page does not add a week count the sources do not state.
Compiled . Dates on each claim are the dates of the linked sources.
What it is
The review says insulating material in this context typically means cellulose used as solid insulation, and that common cellulose types are paper, crepe paper, and pressboard. It says pressboard is the most common insulating material in large power transformers, made by winding wet sheets of electrical-grade unbleached kraft pulp and then drying and pressing them in a hot-press. U.S. Department of Energy Electric Grid Supply Chain Review .
The review says pre-compressed pressboard and kraft paper are used for insulating at the core-coil assembly, and that radial spacers in the winding are made of high-density pressboard. U.S. Department of Energy Electric Grid Supply Chain Review .
Why it constrains supply
The review says industry engagement indicated that insulating material was a potential supply concern because of a lack of domestic manufacturing, and that additional stakeholders and literature review showed only a few domestic suppliers of insulating material for large power transformers in the United States. This page does not repeat the company names in that list. U.S. Department of Energy Electric Grid Supply Chain Review .
The report groups insulating materials with grain-oriented electrical steel and continuously transposed copper wire as raw materials with a significant impact on large power transformer availability and price. U.S. Department of Energy Report to Congress .
Current public evidence
The review ranks regular copper and insulating materials at the lowest quantitative supply-chain risk among the segments it scored, and it says the pandemic lengthened lead times for every material it considered. The stakeholder week counts it prints are for GOES, CTC, regular copper sheet, and tap changers. It does not print a pressboard or paper week count. U.S. Department of Energy Electric Grid Supply Chain Review .
Buyer mitigations
The review says that, on average, it takes 12 to 16 weeks to manufacture a large power transformer if all the materials are available. Insulating material is one of the inputs that sentence requires to be on hand. The review does not state a separate order-ahead week for pressboard or paper. U.S. Department of Energy Electric Grid Supply Chain Review .
Ordering timelines that public sources state are collected in the buying guide. Typical lead times by class and region are on the grid lead-time tracker. Mid-tier manufacturers already in the directory are on the mid-tier list. A dash on that list means no public dated capacity note is on file.
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