Each year, ENR Southwest ranks the largest projects to start construction during the past year in the states of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

For this ranking, ENR Southwest uses a variety of sources, including information from Dodge Construction Network, as well as news reports from Engineering News-Record and other media publications. If your firm started construction on a major project of $200 million or more during 2023, it's not too late to let us know so we can possibly add it to this year's Top Starts ranking. To do this, just email me, Scott Judy, at judys@enr.com. 

As we finalize this ranking, we're reaching out to Southwest contractors and design firms for any information they have about the major projects—with an overall project cost of $200 million or more—that they were involved with that started construction in 2023. 

For now, here's a preliminary list of the Southwest's largest projects to start construction during 2023. The final Top Starts ranking will appear in the March 11 print edition of ENR Southwest. 

  • $4.5B — SunZia Wind 3,500+ MW, Lincoln, N.M.
  • $1.6B — LG Energy Battery Plant - Cylindrical Batteries Building, Queen Creek, Ariz.
  • $1.1B — Thacker Pass Lithium Mine, Nevada
  • $1B — SunZia Southwest Transmission, New Mexico
  • $850M  — KOREPlex Lithium Battery Manufacturing Facility, Buckeye, Ariz.
  • $747.5M  — San Juan Solar/Battery Storage 598 MW, Waterflow, N.M.
  • $550M — Yellow Pine Solar Project 500MW, Las Vegas
  • $450M  — Desert Diamond Casinos West Glendale Casino, Ariz.
  • $425.4M  — San Juan 1 Solar and Storage, Farmington, N.M.
  • $385M  — South Pier (Lot 6) PH1 Residential Towers, Tempe, Ariz.
  • $375M  — Atrisco Solar Farm 360 MW, Rio Rancho, N.M.
  • $338M  — Eleven Mile Solar Center, Arizona
  • $330M  — Google Data Center (Project Red Hawk) Phase 1, Mesa, Ariz.
  • $300M  — Chang Chun Industrial Solvents Factory, Casa Grande, Ariz.
  • $294.1M  — Nestle Manufacturing Plant (Project Raven), Waddell, Ariz.
  • $273.6M  — Aligned Data Centers PHX-06, Chandler, Ariz.
  • $257.5M  — LPC Luke Field Industrial Complex, Glendale, Ariz.
  • $250M  — Randolph/Brittlebush Solar Park, Coolidge, Ariz.
  • $230M  — NV/DOT: US 395 Pavement Rehabilitation, Reno, Nev.
  • $225M  — Kroger's/ Smith's Distribution Center, Las Vegas