Heron Power is a startup founded by Drew Baglino (former SVP of Powertrain and Energy Engineering at Tesla) focused on modernizing grid-scale power conversion through solid-state transformers and advanced power electronics. The company builds hardware to replace the aging mechanical transformer infrastructure that underpins data centers, solar installations, battery storage systems, and large industrial energy loads.
The core problem Heron is solving is that the electrical grid has lagged badly behind innovation at the edge. Legacy mechanical transformers lack the control, monitoring, and adaptability needed for a grid increasingly stressed by data center demand, renewable energy intermittency, and electrification. Heron’s solid-state approach enables better control, faster response, higher efficiency, and — critically — uses domestic supply chains rather than depending on foreign component manufacturers.
Baglino argues that U.S. weakness in grid infrastructure is less about labor cost and more about supply-chain co-location, permitting speed, and policy stability. He has proposed a federal long-term funding framework for the grid analogous to a highway trust fund — treating grid infrastructure as linear, capital-intensive national infrastructure that requires durable public commitment. Heron Power is backed by a16z as part of their American Dynamism portfolio.