10 Big-Money Construction Projects for 2023

Jan. 3, 2023
Even in what could be a down year for the construction market, there’s still a surprising number of billion-dollar projects underway or on the drawing boards.

While 2023 may turn out to be a slower year for the construction market, there’s still plenty of action with some types of projects and in some fast-growing local markets. Some of this construction activity will be fueled by federal economic stimulus like the CHIPS Act to incentivize onshoring of semiconductor manufacturing and the IRA legislation that provides financial incentives and tax breaks for a broad swath of construction activity, including but not limited to the revitalization of the U.S. electrical grid, mass transit, ports, electric vehicle charging stations and renewables.

When you consider that that electrical construction accounts for no less than 10% of the typical construction project, when a billion-dollar trophy job breaks ground, it can provide engineering firms doing the design, electrical contractors working on job, and distributors, reps and manufacturers providing supply and support services with a nice chunk of change.


Follow are 10 billion-dollar projects that highlight the construction niches Electrical Wholesaling’s editors believe may offer the most promise in 2023.

  1. Semiconductor plants – The Skywater-Purdue private/public partnership
  2. Offshore wind farms – Multiple wind farms off New York’s Atlantic coast
  3. Microgrids – The Renaissance at Bader Field proposal in Atlantic City, NJ
  4. Residential construction in fastest-growing metros – The massive Teravalis development in Phoenix
  5. Urban mixed-use projects - Nashville Yards
  6. Mass transit – New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) subway station expansion
  7. Airport terminals – The Big Apple’s JFK Terminal One
  8. Port expansion – Savannah’s port renovation
  9. EV battery plants – Envision-AESC battery plant in South Carolina
  10.  Electric grid expansion – Quanta’s Colorado's Power Pathway Transmission Project
About the Author

Jim Lucy | Editor-in-Chief

Over the past 30-plus years, hundreds of Jim’s articles have been published in Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing newsletter on topics such as the impact of amazonsupply.com and other new competitors on the electrical market’s channels of distribution, energy-efficient lighting and renewables, and local market economics. In addition to his published work, Jim regularly gives presentations on these topics to C-suite executives, industry groups and investment analysts.

He recently launched a new subscription-based data product for Electrical Marketing that offers electrical sales potential estimates and related market data for more than 300 metropolitan areas, and in 1999 he published his first book, “The Electrical Marketer’s Survival Guide” for electrical industry executives looking for an overview of key market trends.

While managing Electrical Wholesaling’s editorial operations, Jim and the publication’s staff won several Jesse H. Neal awards for editorial excellence, the highest honor in the business press, and numerous national and regional awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He has a master’s degree in Communications and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, N.J. (now Rowan University).