Closing the Gap: What it Will Take to Deliver on North America’s Electrification Goals
November 24, 2025
By Tim King, President and Managing Director North America, Nexans
How we invest in our power systems over the next 10 years will determine the stability and competitiveness of the next 50. Across Canada and the United States, AI adoption is accelerating faster than any previous wave of digital technology, driving unprecedented demand for electricity. This shift is no longer theoretical, it is reshaping how industries operate, how infrastructure is planned, and what our grids must be prepared to deliver.
The nature of transformative technology is that it reshapes the status quo before we fully understand its long-term impact. In Canada, the shift is already underway. Over the next five years, Canada’s clean energy GDP is projected to reach $107 billion, driven by roughly $58 billion in annual investments by 2030. That scale of growth underscores both the economic opportunity and the urgency of expanding and modernizing the grid to keep pace. The sobering reality is that our electrical grid is not even close to being equipped to handle it. Investing in energy generation alone isn’t enough. We need to focus on the grid itself, and time is running out. We must close the growing gap between ambition and reality.
The good news is that this is starting to happen. Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced plans to build out an “East-West” electricity grid while also investing in clean energy so as to drive energy independence in Canada. In April, he created the “Major Projects Office” specifically for these types of nation building projects. But even with these commitments, major transmission projects in Canada typically take seven to ten years to fully permit and build. Without continued pressure and accelerated timelines, the pace of progress will fall short of the demand that is already arriving.
In the United States, federal momentum is also rising, with President Trump calling for grid expansion, Hitachi Energy committing $1 billion to new transformer manufacturing, and the Loan Programs Office issuing a $1.6 billion loan guarantee to rebuild more than 5,000 miles of transmission lines.
All of this is a direct response to this problem, but it isn’t happening fast enough. The reality is that regardless, there are still going to be massive bottlenecks in actually making this a priority. Without renewables which are relatively quick to build and deploy, the US could face a wall when it comes to generation. When it comes to transmission, the problems associated with permitting are problems in both countries. The SunZia project, a massive wind farm and transmission project in the American Southwest, received its permit from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management in 2023. This is 17 years after the project was first conceived in 2006. This is also after the permitting process was “fast-tracked.” Supply chains in the US and Canada as well as a lack of current domestic manufacturing capabilities are also potential roadblocks that will need to be cleared.
In short, these issues are solvable but require urgency and coordination. We cannot do this alone. Resilient and modernized grids require more than just generation, they require cables, connectors, digital solutions, transformers, substations and so much more – all of which must be updated quickly. In the meantime, these grids must also be built for the 21st century with innovative digital solutions incorporated into the accessories and components themselves, such as real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance tools, and automated fault detection.
No single stakeholder will be able to solve this problem. Governments, utilities, manufacturers, and communities all have a role to play in shaping this step in our future. One clear path forward is that it seems that both Mark Carney and Trump’s governments are ready to work together with the private sector to make this happen. These types of public-private partnerships are critical to aligning speed, scale, and sustainability. A major near-term challenge is the labor shortage across electrical and construction trades, which threatens to slow project timelines even when funding is available. At the same time, the private sector, regardless of partnerships, must also work together to ensure that the proper workforce and processes are in place to make this leap happen.
For North America, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without these changes, the grid will fall into disrepair, and an aging grid will only become older and less resilient. With a less resilient grid comes more power outages. In an increasingly electrified world where electric vehicles are projected to overtake internal combustion engines by 2038, not just how we work or play, but our freedom of mobility depends on an electrical grid that is strong and has a steady flow of energy.
These goals are achievable, but the timeline depends on closing gaps right now. Industry leaders, policymakers, and communities must work together right now to build resilient and sustainable grids that match ambition and reality. If we fail, the results will create an even bigger gap from which we may not recover.
