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Former Tesla senior vice president Drew Baglino has quietly pulled off something Washington can’t manage: he raised $140 million to scale a practical solution for the nation’s creaking power system. Heron Power, Baglino’s Scotts Valley startup, secured the Series B from heavy hitters including Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy to mass-produce modular solid-state transformers.
The product, branded Heron Link, isn’t trendy virtue signaling — it’s engineering. These solid-state units are far smaller and lighter than century-old iron-core transformers, convert medium-voltage to data-center and storage-ready voltages with high efficiency, and are modular so single failed modules can be swapped in minutes instead of replacing a monolithic unit.
Heron plans to build a highly automated U.S. factory capable of producing 40 gigawatts of transformers annually, with pilot production slated for early 2027 and a ramp that could transform domestic capacity by the end of that year or shortly after. That scale matter is not academic — it’s being driven by customers, from hyperscale data center builders to solar and battery developers, who want speed and reliability without waiting on slow, bloated supply chains.
This is precisely the kind of market-driven, American ingenuity conservatives should cheer: private capital and experienced engineers answering real-world demand instead of more bureaucratic top-down mandates. When venture funds and pragmatic entrepreneurs pile in, it proves one thing — the private sector still knows how to solve problems when left free to innovate and compete.
Don’t let the left’s green catechism fool you into thinking every energy play is about virtue; many of these upgrades address the plain fact that our grid is aging and strained. Heron’s investors point to swelling demand and aging infrastructure as the core problem to be fixed, not just another carbon checklist — a reminder that reliability and affordability should come before political signaling.
There’s also a strategic angle: scaling domestic manufacturing for critical grid gear reduces vulnerabilities in global supply chains and strengthens American technology leadership. Heron’s projected 40-gigawatt capacity would represent a meaningful slice of global demand outside of China, showing that domestic production paired with private investment can keep more of this critical work on U.S. soil.
Baglino’s move after leaving Tesla in early 2024 underscores a lesson conservatives have long known — talent and drive don’t need bureaucrats to flourish, they need freedom and capital. Instead of forcing more regulations and subsidies that entangle innovation, policymakers should clear barriers and back manufacturing growth so entrepreneurs like Baglino can keep delivering tangible solutions for hardworking Americans.
