Clayco has launched a business unit for engineering, procurement and construction services for utility-scale energy projects that the Chicago-based design-build firm expects will generate $300 million in company revenue and employ nearly 1,000 artisans by 2027.
Vice President of Power and Energy Ryan Johnson, a solar energy infrastructure veteran and former president of Texas-based Signal Energy Constructors—he joined the company last fall i will lead the business line, Clayco said in a March 4 announcement,
In a LinkedIn post, Johnson shared that the line of business already has its first solar commercial battery energy storage systems project under contract in Illinois, saying the project is the first of several expected to go live by 2026. It notes customers include utilities, independent power producers, financial backers and “customers that provide power to data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities.”
The launch of the unit adds to the company’s data center-focused Clayco Compute line of business launched in January 2025. Even as states and municipalities move to slow data center expansion to give voters more time to review proposed projects, eDemand for electricity is expected to grow by 15% to 20% by 2030, according to a report by ICF consultancy.
Last week, representatives of data center hyperscalers Microsoft, Amazon, Meta Platforms, xAI, Oracle and OpenAI met with President Donald Trump at the White House to sign a commitment to build their own power generation facilities to power the centers. Much of this demand is expected to be met sources of solar storage and renewable batteries, Clayco added.
“Clayco is committed to supporting the nation’s evolving modern infrastructure needs, and utility-scale energy like solar and battery storage are critical to America’s economic and industrial future,” said Clayco CEO Anthony Johnson. The company is ranked No. 21 on the 2025 Top 400 ENR Contractors list with $6.8 billion in reported 2024 revenue and No. 3 on the 2025 Top 100 Green Building Contractors list with $4.8 billion in revenue.
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