Switchgear

topic on 2 shows · 8 statements across 5 episodes

Catalyst the a16z Podcast

8 statements about Switchgear, every show

CATALYST Assertion Not yet assessed · timeframe Sep 2026
Lubershain: Grid equipment and gas plant costs have doubled or tripled
“Conductor is, like, twice as expensive. So, like, basic aluminum, steel-reinforced conductor. Transformers are two-plus times more expensive. Switchgear is two times more expensive. Gas power plants are two to three times more expensive.”
Andy Lubershane Sep 10, 2026 ▶ 22:05 Do data centers actually increase electricity prices? No...and yes
CATALYST Assertion Partly supported
Lubershane: Grid equipment costs 2-3x more and takes 3-5 years to deliver
“Anything you want to order today is probably going to take three plus years in the case of gas turbines, probably more like five years to be able to get your hands on. Anything you order today, whether it's a turbine or a transformer or just the, you know, alu…”
Andy Lubershane Jun 18, 2026 ▶ 4:49 Enter the electric supercycle
CATALYST Assertion Partly supported
Kann: Lead times for gas turbines, transformers, and switchgear are 3 to 7 years
“The five to seven years is the timeline to get new gas turbines, if you're ordering them, and it's close to the timeline to get new transformers and other, and switchgear and stuff like that. Like, we're all in the, like, three to five or maybe seven year time…”
Shayle Kann Mar 12, 2026 ▶ 8:02 AI scaling pathways: on grid, on edge, off grid, off planet
CATALYST Assertion Supported
Hade: Four components comprise most microgrids deployed today
“Solar storage, switchgear, and dispatchable generation assets, and some combination of those come together to, you know, create most microgrids that are being deployed in the market today.”
Tim Hade Oct 26, 2023 ▶ 10:48 The market for microgrids
CATALYST Assertion Supported
Hade: Switchgear lead times surged from 20 to 60-70 weeks post-COVID
“Which is typically, like, 20 week lead times on Switchgear. That was kind of what the market was before COVID. Today, it's more like 60 to 70 weeks.”
Tim Hade Oct 26, 2023 ▶ 12:50 The market for microgrids
CATALYST Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hade: Islandable switchgear adds a 25% to 30% capital cost premium
“It's like a 25 to 30% premium to install the switchgear you need to be able to island.”
Tim Hade Oct 26, 2023 ▶ 24:33 The market for microgrids
CATALYST Opinion
Hade: Switchgear integration is the biggest technical pain point in microgrids
“On the technology side, I think the biggest pain point right now comes back to switchgear, right, which is integrating a new switchgear into an existing facility has always been more of an art than a science”
Tim Hade Oct 26, 2023 ▶ 34:45 The market for microgrids
a16z Disclosure
Highland pre-purchases electrical switchgear 18 months ahead of signed contracts
“We are buying switchgear, 18 months in advance for projects we don't even have under contract yet, because if we don't have switchgear, we're not We're not getting the infrastructure completed and we can't get up and running.”
Duncan McIntyre Jun 12, 2023 ▶ 41:14 The Electrification of Everything: From Sky to Sea

← every entity, every show

Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, thousands of episodes across every show transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.