Complete civil packages for utility solar near Fordoche, LA: 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 Fordoche in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
Farming community on LA 77 and LA 78 in the western part of the parish near the Atchafalaya Basin fringe, where Sharkey and Fausse clays take over from the levee silts. Access is state route and parish road, with I-10 reached south through Livonia and Grosse Tete in roughly 20 miles.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Pointe Coupee Parish:
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.
Pointe Coupee is Mississippi River alluvial plain on the west bank, and its landform pattern is written by False River, a large abandoned Mississippi meander that left a belt of natural levee ridges and swales across the eastern half of the parish. Ridge soils are Commerce, Mhoon, and Convent silt loams and silty clay loams, somewhat poorly drained loamy alluvium with a winter water table within a few feet of the surface. Behind and between the ridges the ground falls into Sharkey clay backswamp, and on the western side inside and near the Morganza Floodway and the Atchafalaya Basin fringe into Fausse and Barbary clays, very poorly drained and saturated below about two feet. Bayou Grosse Tete, Bayou Fordoche, and Bayou Maringouin carry the interior drainage. Ground elevations run roughly 20 to 40 feet, and the Morganza Floodway guide levees cross the parish as a designated flood conveyance corridor.
Most of the acreage is cleared sugarcane, soybean, and corn ground, so clearing is light and grubbing is limited to fencelines and bayou riparian strips, but the cane quarter drain and headland ditch network has to be surveyed before grading and re-established after. There is essentially no usable borrow on site: the levee ridge silts are the only decent material, and Sharkey clay subgrade will not carry rubber tire traffic wet, so access roads mean geotextile plus imported stone with barge delivered limestone as the cheapest source. Trenching hits water quickly and needs dewatering and shoring throughout. The distinguishing risk here is jurisdictional rather than geotechnical: anything inside the Morganza Floodway, on the riverside of the levee, or crossing a federal levee triggers USACE Section 408 review and flood conveyance analysis, and that schedule is longer than the construction schedule. Erosion control is turbidity and sediment capture at pump and canal outfalls.
Full detail on the Pointe Coupee Parish market is on the Pointe Coupee Parish 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. Louisiana requires a state commercial contractor license issued by the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC) for commercial projects valued at $50,000 or more including labor and materials, per the LSLBC types of licenses page. LSLBC issues licenses by classification, and solar civil sitework is normally performed under the heavy construction and highway, street and bridge construction classifications, with municipal and public works construction used for publicly bid utility work. The exact classification for a given scope should be confirmed with LSLBC before bidding, because Louisiana enforces classification scope, not just the license itself. Out of state contractors qualify through the same LSLBC process and must be registered with the Louisiana Secretary of State.
Construction stormwater. Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (LPDES) storm water general permit for construction activity, administered by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ). Utility solar sites fall under the large construction general permit, LPDES Permit No. LAR100000, which covers construction disturbing five acres or more; the small construction general permit LAR200000 covers one acre up to five acres. Coverage is obtained by filing a Notice of Intent (form CSW-G) with LDEQ before construction begins, and a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan must be prepared and kept current. Coverage under LAR100000 is not transferable between operators. Backwell carries the SWPPP scope, installs and maintains the controls, keeps the inspection log, and closes the permit out with final stabilization.
Prevailing wage. The governing wage requirement on Louisiana utility solar is federal, not state. Projects above 1 MW that claim the increased Inflation Reduction Act investment or production tax credit must pay Davis-Bacon prevailing wages to all laborers and mechanics of the taxpayer, contractors and subcontractors for construction, alteration or repair, and must meet the registered apprenticeship labor hour requirement. Louisiana has no state prevailing wage statute layered on top of that for private construction, so there is no state schedule to track the way there is in New York or Illinois. Certified payroll on these jobs is therefore driven by the IRA credit requirements and by the EPC's contract terms, and any federally funded or federally assisted work carries Davis-Bacon on its own footing. 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 Louisiana 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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