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Within the construction industry, sustainability and carbon reduction have transcended being mere market trends and emerged as central tenets of modern building practices. The ever-expanding push for electrification is at the forefront of this transformative movement, revolutionizing how structures are powered.

However, with critical electrical equipment seeing lead times of 10 months or longer due to a rise in demand, labor shortages in factories, and sporadic supply chain hurdles, this movement may slow.

In a recent construction business forecast webinar, Skanska Vice President of Strategic Supply Chain Tom Park said that for some essential components like transformers, low voltage switches, and generators, major manufacturers have waiting lists longer than a year. Plus, prices are forecasted to escalate by 15 percent in the next six months to a year.

Ironically, a nearly two-year wait for electrical items is about the same duration for many projects鈥� design phases, Skanska Vice President of Sustainability Myrrh Caplan said. Owners and teams could look to design a system first to get the electrical infrastructure plans fully baked and items procured, she said, and then finish design.

鈥淚t鈥檚 turning old design philosophy on its head,鈥� she said.

But to keep in front of the long lead times, this is exactly what is being done. Debbie Grieves, an electrical engineer and associate principal at PAE, said teams have been working with owners much sooner than they typically would on designs and procurement of electrical infrastructure 鈥� often before general contractors are hired.

Usually, electrical gear would be purchased during the construction documents phase. However, in the past two years, teams have needed to procure equipment near the beginning of a project 鈥� in the schematic design phase or earlier, depending on the length of the design phase.

鈥淭here鈥檚 so much that can change between the schematic design and the end of the project design,鈥� Grieves said. 鈥淏ut in order to keep the construction schedule, that鈥檚 when we鈥檝e had to be designing stuff.鈥�

There鈥檚 a precise window for installing electrical equipment in a building. Construction must be at an enclosed point but also with electrical infrastructure set and the conduits running underground to the correct location. In today鈥檚 business climate, if the required equipment isn鈥檛 in storage or on its way when that window arrives, project teams are out of luck, Grieves said 鈥� and construction could be delayed for months.

To that end, she recommends that owners have switch gears, transformers, and generators in storage to move between projects, because right now the lead times for any electrical equipment above 400 amps are 60 to 80 weeks.

The market challenges for electrification aren鈥檛 just in the long lead times, however. Electrical services are also experiencing unprecedented long waits. Largely, that is due to the challenge in securing the types of transformers needed for commercial, light industrial and multifamily developments, said John Farmer, a spokesman for Portland General Electric (PGE).

At the beginning of the supply-chain troubles, PGE delayed noncritical work to alleviate the impact of shortages on customers and even began buying refurbished transformers. However, shortages have only worsened, Farmer said. For instance, the lead time necessary to order transformers increased by fivefold in 2022, with a 30-week increase in September 2022 alone, he said.

New resources have not bridged the gap between supply and demand. Meanwhile, some manufacturers are restricting the number of units that utility companies like PGE can purchase each year 鈥� and that is causing demand to rise even more, Farmer added.

To alleviate the strain, PGE is working with industry organizations, such as Edison Electric Institute, and partners to advocate for measures that will help address the shortage, and the impact on customer projects.

Meanwhile, teams work with limited information on hand and try to find creative solutions to keep projects on schedule. Grieves said that for a set of projects in California with DignityMoves, an organization that constructs tiny homes as temporary housing for unhoused individuals, there鈥檚 a specific period (roughly six to eight months) in which they must finish work to maintain grant funding. Due to this, they鈥檝e been drawing riser diagrams based on concept drawings and documents about six to eight months before the start of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems design 鈥� and having switchboards constructed in factories that do more of a piecemeal custom fabrication 鈥� to ensure that there are no project delays.

鈥淐ontractors and the owners need to not only look at the equipment that they need to maybe purchase early in the project,鈥� Grieves added, 鈥渂ut they also need to look at the electrical service that they are doing.鈥�

However, one of the biggest risks with designing electrical infrastructure so early in the process is that technology or building codes can change, preventing installation of equipment in the future. To mitigate some of this risk, Grieves said, teams have designed flexible systems when possible so that sections can be replaced if needed.

With the high demand for electrification systems, the supply chain difficulties will likely persist. The shift in the timetable for electrical design could stick.

鈥淚 do think though having it early in design is becoming the norm,鈥� Grieves said.

A strategy alongside electrification is a passive design that, rather than relying on electricity, makes use of ambient energy sources like daylighting, natural ventilation, and solar. To improve buildings, Caplan said, greater focus should be on less dependence on energy for operations as well as greater efficiency overall.

鈥淩enewables and offsets should be the very last conversation happening of getting it down to (net) zero if that鈥檚 the goal,鈥� she added.