Complete civil packages for utility solar near Dyer, NV: 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 Dyer in Esmeralda County, Nevada. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
Dyer sits in Fish Lake Valley on SR 264 near the California line, in an irrigated alfalfa district with groundwater wells and existing farm scale earthwork. Access from US 95 is via SR 264 and SR 266 over Lida Summit or north through Coaldale Junction, both of which need checking for oversize grades and curves. Nearest interstate access is far in every direction, so mobilization distance is the controlling cost driver here.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Esmeralda 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.
Esmeralda County is the least populated county in Nevada and is almost entirely alluvial fan and closed basin. Fish Lake Valley on the west is a deep basin between the White Mountains and the Silver Peak Range, fed by very large coalescing fans such as the Trail Canyon fan, which the USGS studied specifically for its soil formation and carbonate accumulation. Clayton Valley to the east is a closed playa whose brine is pumped for lithium at Silver Peak, and the Goldfield Hills and Montezuma Range expose hydrothermally altered Tertiary volcanics that produce clay rich, chemically aggressive residual material. Typical fan surfaces here carry desert pavement with rock varnish over gravelly to extremely gravelly sandy loam, with carbonate stage horizons developing at depth on the older, higher fan remnants. All drainage is internal to playas, groundwater is deep except at the playa fringe, and the ephemeral washes braid rather than staying in defined channels.
Clearing and grubbing is minimal, scattered creosote and shadscale, but stripping desert pavement destroys the only thing holding those fan surfaces together and the exposed gravelly sand will move under both wind and the next thunderstorm. Mass grading on older fan remnants runs into cemented carbonate horizons that rip hard and can refuse a trencher or a driven pile, so pothole for carbonate development before committing to pile lengths and trench production rates. Braided washes crossing the fans do not have one channel to bridge, so access roads need either wide armored crossings or a road alignment that stays on interfluves, and every crossing has to survive a flash event that arrives with no warning from a storm you cannot see. On the Clayton Valley playa margin, brine and salt make corrosion protection and material selection a first order design item rather than a footnote.
Full detail on the Esmeralda County market is on the Esmeralda 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. Nevada requires a state contractor license issued by the Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB) for commercial construction, and the Board sets a monetary limit on each license based on the applicant's financial statement. Commercial civil sitework falls under Classification A, General Engineering, which is broken into subclassifications: the ones that matter for solar civil are A-7 Excavating and Grading, A-12 Excavating, Grading, Trenching and Surfacing, A-16 Paving, A-15 Sewers, Drains and Pipes, and A-17 Lines to Transmit Electricity for gen tie and collection work. Licensure requires a written examination, a background investigation, and a financial responsibility review, and the license must carry a monetary limit high enough for the contract value being bid. Source: https://www.nvcontractorsboard.com/about-us/license-classifications/
Construction stormwater. Nevada's construction stormwater permit is the Stormwater Construction General Permit, permit number NVR100000, issued by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP), Bureau of Water Pollution Control, Stormwater Branch. Coverage is required for any project disturbing one acre or more, for smaller projects that are part of a larger common plan of development, and for sub acre projects the Stormwater Branch determines will impact receiving waters within a quarter mile. The operator prepares a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) first, then submits a Notice of Intent (NOI) to obtain coverage before ground disturbance begins. The 2015 version of NVR100000 has been administratively continued while a renewal is drafted. Source: https://ndep.nv.gov/water/water-pollution-control/permitting/stormwater-discharge-permits/construction-sites-greater-than-1-acre 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 rules apply through the Inflation Reduction Act to projects of 1 MW alternating current and above that claim the increased investment or production tax credit, and that covers essentially every utility-scale solar job in Nevada. On top of that, Nevada has its own wage floor for renewable energy projects that take the state partial tax abatement under NRS 701A.300 to 701A.390: NRS 701A.365 requires that the average hourly wage paid to employees working on construction of the facility, excluding management and administrative staff, be at least 175 percent of the average statewide hourly wage as set by the Employment Security Division of DETR each July 1, and that workers be offered a health insurance plan with a dependent coverage option. DETR publishes the applicable green energy wage figure annually. Separately, NRS Chapter 338 prevailing wage applies to public works contracts awarded by state and local public bodies, which is a different track from privately owned solar generation. Sources: https://law.justia.com/codes/nevada/chapter-701a/ and https://www.energy.nv.gov/siteassets/content/programs/Renewable_Energy_Tax_Abatements_Requirements__2.pdf and https://www.nevadaworkforce.com/_docs/Green-Wage/2024_Green_Energy_Tax_Abatement.pdf 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 Nevada 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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