Complete civil packages for utility solar in Nye County, Nevada: 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 Nye County, Nevada. We contract the complete civil package under one agreement, with Backwell superintendents and lead operators on site.
Nye County is southern Nevada's main growth area for new utility-scale solar on BLM land. In June 2026 BLM advanced the 400 MW Purple Sage Energy Center on more than 4,500 acres in the Pahrump Valley near the Nevada California border, with the final environmental review entering a 30 day protest period that closed July 13, 2026. Nye also shares the proposed 300 MW Bonanza Solar Project with Clark County, a roughly 5,133 acre site with battery storage and a 5.4 mile gen tie line. The county's mix of large flat valley floors, BLM land, and existing transmission access makes it a steady source of grading, road, and drainage packages through 2028.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Nye 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.
Nye County stretches from Great Basin ranges in the north to Mojave desert in the south, so ground conditions change completely across it. In the south, the Pahrump series is typed in Nye County on lake terraces formed in lacustrine deposits derived from limestone, and it carries a calcic horizon from roughly 5 to 107 centimeters with hard carbonate nodules making up 35 to 60 percent of the control section rock fragments, which is the caliche a contractor actually fights in Pahrump Valley. Basin floors in the central valleys carry deep silt loams formed in silty alluvium off limestone and volcanic rock, while the washes and inset fans are dominated by Arizo type excessively drained very gravelly to extremely gravelly sand. The Amargosa Desert drains south toward Death Valley through the ephemeral Amargosa River and Fortymile Wash, and regional carbonate aquifer discharge at Ash Meadows and Devils Hole makes groundwater a live permitting constraint. Northern basins such as Big Smoky and Railroad Valley are closed, with playas at the low point and long gravelly fan piedmonts on the flanks.
South county work should be priced with a real caliche assumption: petrocalcic and strongly cemented carbonate layers turn a routine collection trench into rock excavation and can refuse driven pile, so plan predrilling, rock teeth, hoe rams, and unit price line items for cemented material. Basin floor silt loams grade and compact well when moisture is controlled but lose strength fast when wet, and they dust severely, so dust control is a permit condition rather than a courtesy in the Las Vegas air basin fringe. Arizo type wash gravels are excellent bearing and easy digging but the washes themselves are active and will relocate, so access roads and array boundaries need hydrologic study, not just a culvert schedule. Groundwater near Ash Meadows and Devils Hole means construction water sourcing and any dewatering discharge should be settled early, and clearing in tortoise and Mojave habitat brings survey and translocation windows that dictate the schedule.
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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