This year, we celebrated an extraordinary milestone: 125 years of NECA and the electrical construction industry we have helped build. It was an opportunity to recognize generations of contractors, electricians, apprentices and industry leaders who helped power America’s growth. Milestones give us an opportunity to ask an important question: What are we going to build next? 

The answer is taking shape all around us. Nearly every growing market has something fundamental in common: it depends on electricity. 

Electrical contractors are at the center of an enormous transformation.

Electricity demand in the United States is accelerating, driven in part by the rapid expansion of data centers, A.I. and advanced manufacturing. At the same time, our nation is investing in the infrastructure necessary to generate, transmit, distribute and manage that power. For NECA contractors, the opportunity is tremendous.

ELECTRI International recently explored this idea through research examining “Blue Ocean” opportunities—emerging and underdeveloped markets where electrical contractors can find new avenues for growth. That is exactly the kind of thinking our industry needs.

Beyond competing for more of the work we already know, we should seek out the next categories of electrical work.

Look at the modern building. Electrical contractors are increasingly working across power, lighting controls, building automation, structured cabling, security, wireless networks and energy management. The lines between electrical construction, technology and information infrastructure continue to blur.

The same thing is happening across the energy landscape. Battery storage, microgrids, transmission infrastructure and advanced generation technologies are creating entirely new opportunities for our contractors.

Opportunity alone is not enough. We must prepare our workforce for these technologies. NECA’s education programs must evolve alongside the industry. ELECTRI must continue identifying emerging markets and turning research into practical intelligence. And we must make sure that knowledge reaches our contractors so they can act on it.

Today, NECA contractors are being called on to build the infrastructure for an increasingly digital, connected and electricity-driven economy.

The technologies may be different; the opportunity is not. Every major technological transformation requires someone to turn an idea into infrastructure. That is what NECA contractors do. 

Our first 125 years helped electrify America. Now it is time to build what is to come.

David Long
NECA CEO