9 Infrastructure Megaprojects to Watch
The construction of infrastructure is set to experience another robust year, boosted in part by substantial injections of federal funds. Over the past few months, the sector has provided crucial support to the building industry, particularly amidst interest rate hikes and decreases in backlog. In its third year, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is gaining momentum, accompanied by funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act. The effects of these investments are becoming more apparent as they drive numerous projects across the country, including many of considerable scale.
According to Construction Dive, a $30 billion nuclear power plant in Georgia, constructed in part by Reston, Virginia-based Bechtel, will likely cross a major threshold in the first months of 2024.
Unit 4 of Plant Vogtle, located near Waynesboro, Georgia, is on schedule to begin generating power early this year, according to Southern Co. spokesperson Alicia Brown. Plant Vogtle’s Unit 3, also built by Bechtel, went online at the end of July.
Bechtel partnered with North America’s Building Trades Unions to build the two units, with 9,000 workers combined on the site at the peak of construction.
The startup of the reactors has been hailed as a major milestone in U.S. nuclear power construction, but the project took more than seven years longer than originally planned and at a cost of more than double the preliminary projected price, according to Reuters.
When finished, Unit 4 — operated by Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power — will become the largest generator of clean energy in the U.S., Brown said.
Able to power an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses, Unit 3 was the country’s first newly constructed nuclear unit in over three decades.
