Complete civil packages for utility solar in Knox County, Ohio: 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 Knox County, Ohio. We contract the complete civil package under one agreement, with Backwell superintendents and lead operators on site.
Frasier Solar, a 120 MW agrivoltaic project on about 840 acres in Clinton and Miller townships, received its Ohio Power Siting Board certificate on June 26, 2025 after a long and heavily contested case. Open Road Renewables is the developer and has said it will handle EPC and operations, and the project is expected to employ more than 200 construction workers. The approval has been appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, so the construction start is tied to that outcome. Knox County is the clearest example in Ohio of a project where civil scope is defined and shovel ready but the calendar depends on litigation.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Knox 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.
Knox County is cut diagonally by the Wisconsinan glacial boundary near Mount Vernon: northwest is till plain and ground moraine, southeast is unglaciated Allegheny Plateau with steep dissected hills along the Kokosing River, Big Jelloway Creek, and the Mohican headwaters. Till side soils are Bennington, Cardington, Centerburg, Pewamo, and Condit; plateau side soils are Loudonville, Coshocton, Berks, and Gilpin, several of which are shallow to sandstone and shale within 20 to 40 inches. The Kokosing valley carries outwash sand and gravel and floodplain soils in the Chagrin and Lobdell range. Drainage on the till plain is slow and tile dependent, while the plateau drains fast through steep ravines.
On the northwest till plain expect Bennington and Pewamo wet subgrade, undercut in the depressions, stone haul roads, and weather driven schedule risk. On the southeast plateau expect rock at or near trench depth, so budget hoe ram or rock trencher production rates for collection and plan benched access roads with keyed fill on the steeper side slopes. The Kokosing terraces are the local granular source and are worth routing haul roads through, and erosion control on the plateau needs slope length breakers and rock check dams rather than silt fence alone.
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. Ohio does not issue a statewide general contractor, excavation, or sitework license. The Ohio Construction Industry Licensing Board, under the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Industrial Compliance, licenses only five commercial specialty trades: electrical, HVAC, refrigeration, plumbing, and hydronics. Commercial civil sitework, earthwork, and grading require no state trade license, so qualification comes through local registration where a county or municipality requires it, permits, insurance, and owner or EPC prequalification. Contractors bidding state highway work separately need Ohio Department of Transportation prequalification.
Construction stormwater. Ohio EPA NPDES Construction Storm Water General Permit, currently designated OHC000006, issued by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Division of Surface Water. Coverage requires a Notice of Intent and a site specific Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan for earth disturbance of one acre or more, including smaller areas that are part of a larger common plan of development, which covers essentially every utility scale solar site. 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 wages apply through the Inflation Reduction Act to projects of 1 MW AC and above that claim the full investment or production tax credit, along with the apprenticeship hour requirements, so nearly every utility scale solar site in Ohio is a certified payroll job. On top of that, Ohio has its own prevailing wage law under Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4115, administered by the Ohio Department of Commerce, Bureau of Wage and Hour Administration, but it attaches to public improvements financed with public funds and does not automatically apply to privately financed solar. In practice some Ohio solar applicants have voluntarily committed to prevailing wage or labor agreements as part of their OPSB cases, for example the labor agreement reported in the Sloopy Solar case in Clark County, so bidders should read the certificate conditions and the EPC contract, not assume. 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 Ohio 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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