Complete civil packages for utility solar near Capac, MI: 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 Capac in St. Clair County, Michigan. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
Northwest county directly on I-69 in the flat tile drained clay farmland, the freeway access point for interior township work around Yale and Emmett. Truck everything, since there is no local aggregate source and the clay ground offers no borrow of any value.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around St. Clair 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.
Flat lake plain built by glacial Lakes Warren and Wayne and by Lake St. Clair, with heavy lacustrine clay and clay loam broken by low sandy relict beach ridges that the old ridge roads follow. The St. Clair River runs the eastern edge from Port Huron to Algonac and spreads into the St. Clair Flats delta at its mouth, and the Black, Pine, Belle, and Mill Creek systems drain the interior. Western and northern townships around Yale, Capac, and Emmett are clay till plain in tile drained cash crop production. Common mapping includes Blount silt loam and Pewamo on the till plain, Lenawee and Colwood in the wet lacustrine flats, Kibbie fine sandy loam on the sandier beach ridge ground, and organic muck in the old marshes and delta islands.
Clay subgrade governs everything: haul roads need undercut, geogrid, and imported stone because there is essentially no usable granular material on site, and stone has to come in by truck from the Michigan limestone quarries or by barge to a river dock. Grading is a dry season or frozen ground activity and a wet fall will shut the job down rather than slow it. Trench spoil is sticky and hard to place, tile lines are everywhere and must be repaired and recorded, and because grades are nearly flat, ditch slopes and outlet elevations control the design. Sediment control needs basins sized for clay turbidity with chemical treatment, since fine clay will pass a silt fence.
Full detail on the St. Clair County market is on the St. Clair 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. 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.
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