“Hey, There's a Problem Here!”: Deepak Divan's Clarion Call to Modernize the Grid

I first became aware of the looming transformer crisis in 2022, when IEEE Spectrum contributing editor Robert N. Charette was reporting on the infrastructure improvements required to make the transition to electric vehicles possible. Modern power grids can't run without transformers, which step voltages up and down for distribution from power plants to power stations and on to homes and businesses. And yet, Charette wrote, “most of the millions of U.S. transformers are approaching the end of their useful lives.”