The Wesson Group
Stabilizing the Power Grid
If you’ve got a construction project, The Wesson Group, LLC in Johnstown provides full services from design to completion and the myriad parts in between.
Chief Operating Officer Scott Lewis, P.E. and his colleagues formed the company in 2013 to provide construction services for several varied industries including solar and wind, electrical substation and transmission, marine, infrastructure, heavy civil, and transportation. Wesson has completed projects for both government and private clients.
In the company’s early years, employees completed projects such as the Adirondack Welcome Center in Queensbury off I-87 North (2018). Despite design revisions, the company completed the project on budget and ahead of schedule. Prior to that in 2016, Wesson worked on the installation of 315 recreational vehicle spaces and additional midway space at the NYS Fairgrounds in Syracuse, finishing the job in just 83 days.
Renewable Energy Powerhouse
With demand increasing for renewable energy sources, the company returned to projects in that sector in 2016 with the construction of the Copenhagen Wind Farm in Lewis and Jefferson Counties and the Jerico Rise Wind Farm in Franklin County, New York
A drop in construction prices and improved technology in the wind power industry, together with New York State’s goals for energy to be 70 percent renewable by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050, the demand for wind and solar projects is particularly high. To encourage developers, the state has provided a whole suite of incentives, the Wesson team said.
The company has constructed a few large farms along the Canadian border, which they say is a good region, because it helps the farmers there who lease land for the windmills to keep their family farms going.
Wesson has constructed roughly 90 percent of the wind farms in New York State. The power generated by ninety-eight percent of the wind farms the company installs is purchased by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). At present, renewable energy projects make up about 80 percent of Wesson’s contracts.
Wesson said that currently, there is also a big demand for solar energy projects. The company is involved in three utility-scale projects in New York. They work on contracts for transmission electrical projects where they engineer, procure and construct transmission lines to connect wind or solar farms to the grid. Or, they might build a substation that converts medium voltage electricity to high voltage.
The company also worked on a construction project at the Albany Nanotech Complex as a subcontractor, relocating some existing utilities including sewer, water and gas as well as installing utilities for a new manufacturing building. Prior to founding Wesson, the company’s partners had experience working together at another company on infrastructure projects for semiconductor chip fabrication facilities, which made them particularly qualified for the job at Albany Nanotech.
To help stabilize the grid, Wesson is conducting research and testing on battery storage facilities so that energy can be stored during off-peak times to be accessed when the demand is high. Wesson’s close proximity to the Albany Nanotech facility and GlobalFoundries helps it in the development of these projects.
Wesson has also completed projects such as the construction of the Maybrook Trailway, the conversion of railroad tracks to a 23-mile bike path in Putnam and Dutchess Counties in New York. This involved the rehabilitation or replacement of over 30 structures along the way. Another project was the NYS Department of Transportation Ulster Bundled Bridges Project replacing six critical bridges while navigating wildlife
Continued Growth
The Wesson Group has expanded four times since its inception, and more growth is on the horizon.
The company had about 300 full-time positions in 2025 and expects that number to grow. Employee numbers are up in the warmer months when construction is busiest.
The company employs people in a variety of jobs including civil engineers, operators, laborers, accountants and office workers and is always looking to hire locally.
Wesson might be involved in a project from conception to finish, working with clients on design, permitting, engineering reviews, compliance filings, geotechnical concerns, constructability views, construction and any other parts of a project.
Or, it might be involved in various aspects of a particular project. Last year, Wesson was booking jobs through 2028, the team said, noting that projects take between six and eight years to be developed. The average project is $100 million.
Johnstown Location
Johnstown has proved to be a prime location for Wesson’s business. With operations throughout New York as well as in Pennsylvania and Maryland, Fulton County makes a convenient location. “We appreciate being on the Thruway as it gives us good access to Western New York and the Hudson Valley,” said a team member. In addition, the Thruway intersects all the major highways running north and south, I-87, I-81, SRr12, I-86 and I-390, where the company’s clients are located.
In 2026, the company expects to expand to a new facility at the Crossroads Business Park in Johnstown. Wesson worked closely with staff from the Fulton County Center for Regional Growth to learn about possible funding sources for the expansion. Last year, Wesson submitted a New York State Development Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) for this capital project. The CFA allows applicants to be considered for multiple funding sources with one application, thus streamlining the funding search. The new facility will include a training center, as employee safety is paramount.
More Than Just Business
While Wesson’s work products certainly contribute to an eco-friendly world, one of the Wesson team’s main goals is to achieve a sustainable business model focused on its employees, the communities in which it works, and relationships with clients.
The philanthropic arm of its business, The Wesson Group Cares program, has the goal of building a better community wherever they are working. The program accepts proposals year-round, and its philanthropic work has resulted in a wide variety of assistance to many communities. The company has donated to food pantries, partnered with the Make a Wish Foundation, helped build a new soup kitchen in Johnstown, sponsored Gloversville’s legacy baseball facility Parkhurst Field, contributed to Mountain Valley Hospice and sponsored youth sports teams, to name just a few ways Wesson gives back to local communities.
The Wesson Group makes sure that wherever it has a project, whether that be in New York, Pennsylvania or Maryland, employees are on the ground contributing in some way to that community. For example, employees working on the Baron Winds Wind Farm project in Cohocton, New York volunteered working on projects at the local historical society and the Loon Lake Preserve.
The company is heavily involved in veterans’ activities as well. Ten percent of The Wesson Group’s employees are veterans, and the business contributes to causes that support veterans.
“We want to leave each community we touch better than we found it,”
-said a team member.
“We build projects that better people’s way of life and do it in a manner that we better the community.”
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