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Cable cleats, clamps and straps that networks once picked off the shelf are now being quoted at 12 to 14 weeks, as a global battery build competes for the same supply. Here’s how to keep substation and distribution work on schedule without compromising the fault rating.
For years, a network crew needing 50 or 100 trefoil cleats for a substation job could get them off the shelf within days. That’s no longer a given. Utility-scale batteries use the same cable management hardware as substations, and they use it in volumes no distribution job comes close to. When a six-week outage meets a 14-week lead time, the pressure is to fit whatever is available. Here’s what to check before you do.
From Shelf Item to 14 Weeks
Battery sites run the same single-core cable arrangements as substations: cable runs from power conversion systems to step-up transformers, and collector cables to the site substation. A single site repeats those runs dozens of times, so one project can order cleats, clamps, glands and straps in the thousands.
That demand is global. Battery projects are being built at scale around the world, and in Identimark’s experience, the largest markets, led by the United States, are absorbing much of the manufacturing capacity for cable management hardware. When overseas manufacturers prioritise larger, higher-value orders, Australian and New Zealand buyers can find themselves further down the queue.
On one recent Australian battery project, a delivery agreement with another supplier for 12,000 trefoil cleats, clamps and cable glands slipped by three months, as that supplier’s overseas manufacturer continued to prioritise shipments to the US. To hold the program, the EPC paid a significant unplanned air freight bill to get the product to site on time.
It isn’t limited to battery projects. Distribution networks Identimark has supplied for years are now seeing the same extended lead times on routine substation and distribution hardware.
Demand is building at home too. AEMO’s Connections Scorecard for the September 2026 quarter shows 80.9GW of generation and storage projects in the connection process for the National Electricity Market, more than the grid’s entire existing capacity of 77GW. Grid-scale batteries make up 55 per cent.
For networks, the result is that hardware once treated as a routine shelf item now needs to be planned like a long-lead component.
In my experience, distribution and transmission jobs used to be able to grab 50 or 100 trefoil cleats off the shelf. Now we’re seeing jobs planned around a six to eight week lead time quoted at 14 weeks, while the substation upgrade still has to happen in six.
When the lead time doesn’t match the outage
Network and plant electrical work runs to fixed windows: planned substation outages, energisation dates and scheduled shutdowns. These are set months ahead around system operators, customers, contractors and cranes. A window doesn’t move because a box of cleats is late.
When the specified product won’t arrive in time, the options narrow quickly:
Only the third protects both the schedule and the design intent, and it’s only quick if the specification and the supplier’s documentation make it easy to review. The better answer is to confirm availability against the outage date when the scope is set, not when the order is placed.
