Complete civil packages for utility solar in Alcona County, Michigan: clearing, mass grading, access roads, collection trenching, SWPPP, fencing, and substation civil.
Backwell is a civil site work general contractor serving utility solar EPCs building in Alcona County, Michigan. We contract the complete civil package under one agreement, with Backwell superintendents and lead operators on site.
Alcona County in northeast Michigan carries the largest forward pipeline of any Michigan county for 2027 and 2028, with two Consumers Energy projects totaling roughly 470 MW. Caledonia Solar is targeted for commercial operation in 2027 and Gustin Solar, at 355 MW, is targeted for 2028. This is rural, low density ground with thin local heavy civil capacity, which favors outside earthwork crews that can mobilize and stay. The two projects are sequential rather than simultaneous, giving a contractor a multi year runway in one county.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Alcona 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.
Northeast lower peninsula fronting Lake Huron, with abandoned Lake Algonquin and Nipissing beach ridges and sand plain near the shore, and pitted sandy outwash and low moraine inland. The Au Sable River crosses the southwest with the Alcona and Loud impoundments, and the Huron National Forest occupies much of the western half in jack pine and aspen. Soils are dominated by droughty sands: Rubicon and Kalkaska sand and Graycalm loamy sand on the plains and ridges, the Alcona series and other coarse loamy soils on the better moraine ground, Croswell and Au Gres sands where the water table is closer to the surface, and Roscommon mucky sand with Lupton and Tawas muck in the cedar and spruce swamps. Surface drainage is sparse because most precipitation infiltrates, so the real hydrology is a perched and seasonally high water table in the swales.
Clearing is stump heavy pine and aspen with light hauling value, and grubbing spoil is mostly sand plus root mat, so plan burial or grinding rather than export. Excavation is easy and rock free, but the sand has no cohesion: haul roads and crane pads will pump and rut without geotextile and a real aggregate cap, and cut slopes flatter than the sand angle of repose or they will slough onto trench lines. Erosion control is more about wind and dust suppression than mud, and the swamp and swale crossings drive the wetland permitting and the winter frozen ground work window.
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. Michigan does not issue a statewide general contractor or commercial building license. LARA licenses residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors for residential work only, so commercial civil sitework, earthwork, grading, and access road construction do not require a state contractor license. Specialty trades that do require state licenses include electrical, mechanical, and plumbing, which matters for the electrical scope on a solar site. Local units of government and some counties require contractor registration or permits, and contractors performing state funded public work must register with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
Construction stormwater. Construction stormwater in Michigan is administered by the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Water Resources Division, under the NPDES program paired with Part 91 Soil Erosion and Sedimentation Control of NREPA. Any earth change disturbing one acre or more with a point source discharge to waters of the state requires NPDES coverage. Sites disturbing one to five acres receive automatic Permit by Rule coverage once a Part 91 SESC permit is issued by the county or municipal enforcing agency. Sites disturbing five acres or more, which is every utility solar site, must obtain the Part 91 SESC permit and then submit a Notice of Coverage (NOC) application to EGLE Water Resources Division with the approved SESC plan, site location map, and fee. A certified storm water operator must inspect the site weekly and within 24 hours of a rain event that produces a discharge. 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 registered apprenticeship requirements apply to solar projects of 1 MW AC and larger that claim the full Inflation Reduction Act credit rate, so certified payroll is standard on Michigan utility solar. On top of that, Michigan reinstated a state prevailing wage act, 2023 PA 10, effective February 2024 for state funded construction. The larger factor for solar is Public Act 233 of 2023: an applicant for an MPSC siting certificate must pay workers on construction and construction maintenance of the energy facility no less than the prevailing wage and fringe benefit rates determined under 2023 PA 10 or Davis-Bacon, whichever is higher, and must use apprenticeship programs registered with the U.S. Department of Labor. Contractors bidding Michigan solar civil work should assume certified payroll, prevailing wage rates, and registered apprentice ratios. 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 Michigan 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.
Plans, scope, and schedule reviewed and answered promptly.
Reply in hours, not days.