This surge in demand signals exciting progress, but it also raises an urgent question: Can the nation’s aging power grid keep up? This rapid growth underscores the urgent need to build a grid that can keep pace with innovation. Much of the US Grid Is Decades Past Its PrimePart of the challenge lies in the age of the infrastructure itself. According to the report, nearly 70% of power transformers and transmission lines are more than 25 years old and rapidly approaching the end of their usable life. Much of the U.S. grid was originally designed in the 1950s through the 1970s, long before today’s energy demands were even imaginable.