Niagara Power Transformer has broken ground on a more than $71 million expansion of its Cheektowaga manufacturing campus, a project the company says is the largest investment in its history. The plan calls for a 96,000-square-foot addition at the company's Dale Road site, with construction expected to wrap up over the next two years.
According to a release distributed via einpresswire.com, the expansion is expected to retain 146 jobs and create 73 new full-time positions, including 57 IBEW union jobs. The project falls under what the company calls its Niagara Power 50 Initiative, and president Chris Kraft said it represents “the largest investment in our company's history,” per the same release. Kraft took part in the groundbreaking at the Dale Road site, as reported by Buffalo Business First.
Niagara Power Transformer manufactures custom liquid-filled substation power transformers for utility, industrial and other applications, according to transformer-technology.com. That outlet also reports the company was acquired by Houston-based Quanta Services roughly two years before the current round of reporting, and that a potential later phase could add another 32,000 square feet to the company's existing 121,000-square-foot plant — though that addition has not been confirmed as approved or underway.
Boosting Output as Demand Outpaces Supply
The expansion is expected to increase annual transformer production from 90 to 140 units, an increase of approximately 50%, per plantservices.com. An earlier report from audacy.com had put the expected increase at 45%, and the dossier does not resolve which figure is final. Either way, the jump reflects a broader scramble across the industry: demand for substation power transformers nationally rose 116% between 2019 and 2025, while demand for generator step-up transformers climbed 274% in the same span, according to Reuters.
Reuters also reports that transformer prices have risen about 80% over five years, with lead times for some high-capacity units stretching up to four years. The U.S. Energy Department previously found that distribution-transformer lead times grew from three to six months in 2019 to 12 to 30 months in 2023, according to uticaphoenix.net. Niagara Power Transformer has said demand has increased significantly as utilities work to modernize and harden the electric grid while expanding infrastructure to meet growing electricity needs, per the einpresswire.com release.
Other Manufacturers Racing to Expand Too
Niagara Power Transformer is not alone in ramping up capacity. Hitachi Energy has announced more than $1 billion in investments, including a $457 million large-transformer facility in South Boston and a $106 million transformer-component plant in Tennessee, Reuters reports. Siemens, meanwhile, increased planned spending on North Carolina manufacturing facilities from $150 million to $421 million, including a new transformer factory in Charlotte, while Turkey's Astor Enerji secured $769 million in contracts to ship transformers to four U.S. companies between 2026 and 2028, per the same Reuters report.
Notably, transformer-technology.com reports that Niagara Power Transformer considered expansion opportunities in Tennessee and North Carolina before opting to remain in Cheektowaga. The company's roots are described differently across sources: the einpresswire.com release traces them to 1924, while an Erie County Industrial Development Agency project document says the company began in 1929 repairing electrical equipment before it started building new transformers in 1938.
Public Dollars and a Public Hearing
The project has drawn state and local financial support. The einpresswire.com release states it received $4.5 million from the New York Power Authority's Western New York Power Proceeds program, along with up to $3.4 million in performance-based Excelsior Jobs Program tax credits awarded by Empire State Development.
Locally, the Erie County Industrial Development Agency scheduled a public hearing for August 25, 2026, at Town of Cheektowaga Council Chambers on the proposed manufacturing facility at 1755 and 1746 Dale Road, with written comments accepted through 4 p.m. on September 22, 2026. The agency contemplated sales and use tax exemption benefits and real property tax abatement benefits for qualifying portions of the project. A separate ECIDA project record lists approximately $262,000 in sales-tax savings and roughly $1.1 million in property-tax savings through a 10-year PILOT agreement; other reports cite figures of $1.7 million and nearly $2.2 million.
