Complete civil packages for utility solar near Tacna, AZ: clearing, mass grading, access roads, collection trenching, SWPPP, fencing, and substation civil.
Backwell contracts complete civil site work packages for utility solar EPCs building near Tacna in Yuma County, Arizona. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
Small I-8 exit between Wellton and Dateland in the Mohawk Valley, useful mainly for direct interstate turnoff onto county roads. Mohawk Valley farm roads carry weight restrictions and narrow bridges, so heavy haul routing needs verification before mobilization.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Yuma County:
Project details come from public filings and reporting and are listed to show where the work is. Backwell is not affiliated with these projects or their developers.
Three distinct grounds in one county. The Colorado and Gila River bottoms are flat, fine textured and irrigated, with Gadsden clay, Holtville stratified silty clay, Indio silt loam, Lagunita and Vint soils, high water tables and salt accumulation. Away from the rivers the Yuma Desert and Mohawk Valley carry active and stabilized aeolian sand: Rositas and Superstition sands, where dune fields migrate and there is essentially no cohesion. Between them are gravelly desert pavement fans off the Gila, Mohawk, Muggins and Castle Dome Mountains with Carrizo, Gunsight, Cristobal and Antho soils, strongly calcareous and often varnished pavement with a calcic horizon underneath. Rainfall is roughly three inches a year, drainage is entirely ephemeral, and the operative flood risk is flash flow off the mountain fronts crossing the flats rather than any perennial channel.
Clearing on the fans is minimal, but on the river bottom you are removing mature salt cedar, mesquite bosque and irrigation infrastructure, which is real grubbing volume. Sandy Rositas and Superstition ground compacts poorly, blows constantly, and will not hold a cut slope, so access roads need imported gravel surfacing and windrow or fence stabilization, and pile installation may need pre drilling or larger sections for lateral capacity in loose sand. The clay and silt bottoms are the opposite problem: low bearing when wet, high water table, and salinity aggressive to buried concrete and steel, so sulfate testing and Type V cement or coated pile is a standard call. Desert pavement fans cut easily but the pavement surface, once broken, does not come back, so limit disturbance width and stockpile the pavement layer for restoration. Erosion control is wind driven, not water driven, for most of the year, so gravel mulch, chemical stabilizer and water trucks matter more than silt fence, and BLM right of way conditions will usually mandate a dust and desert pavement restoration plan.
Full detail on the Yuma County market is on the Yuma County solar civil page.
We price the package as one scope under one contract, so the EPC has a single point of responsibility for the civil critical path instead of managing separate clearing, earthwork, and utility subcontracts.
Backwell superintendents, project managers, and lead operators run every site. We mobilize company equipment for the core scope and scale each project with leased production fleets, qualified regional subcontractors, and agency-placed field staff, all under Backwell supervision and a single contract.
Contractor licensing. Yes. Arizona requires a contractor license issued by the Arizona Registrar of Contractors (ROC). For commercial civil sitework the relevant classification is the commercial A General Engineering license, which covers fixed works, streets and roads, power and utility plants and related infrastructure, and which also carries the scopes of the A-4 through A-19 subclassifications including A-5, excavating, grading and oil surfacing. A contractor may alternatively hold a specific A subclassification such as A-5 rather than the full A. Licensure requires documented trade experience, passing the Business Management exam and the applicable trade exam, and a license bond.
Construction stormwater. AZPDES Construction General Permit (CGP) for Stormwater, issued by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). Coverage is required for construction disturbing one acre or more, or less than one acre if part of a larger common plan of development or sale, and it also covers temporary concrete, asphalt and material plants set up exclusively for the permitted project. The operator files a Notice of Intent with ADEQ certifying that a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan has been developed and will be followed. Backwell carries the SWPPP scope, installs and maintains the controls, keeps the inspection log, and closes the permit out with final stabilization.
Prevailing wage. Federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements apply through the Inflation Reduction Act to projects of 1 MW and larger that claim the full investment or production tax credit, so certified payroll is standard on utility-scale solar in Arizona. On top of that, Arizona has no state prevailing wage law for state or locally funded public works, and Arizona statute preempts local governments from adopting their own prevailing wage ordinances. In practice the wage determination governing an Arizona solar site comes from the federal IRA requirement or from the owner or EPC contract, not from a state schedule. Davis-Bacon also applies directly on federally funded or federally assisted work. For projects claiming the full ITC or PTC, Backwell produces Davis-Bacon certified payroll, pays the applicable wage determination, and supports apprenticeship labor-hour compliance.
All Arizona solar civil work or the national utility solar civil page.
Send plans, a scope of work, and the schedule through the form below or call (315) 400-2654. We review the civil package, walk the site if it is at that stage, and return a scoped proposal with a schedule of values, stated fill allowances, and unit rates for overages. A one-page capability statement is available for prequalification files.
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