Complete civil packages for utility solar near Springfield, OH: 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 Springfield in Clark County, Ohio. One contract covers clearing through final stabilization, with Backwell field leadership on site.
At the junction of I-70 and US 68 with I-675 running to Dayton, served by CSX and Norfolk Southern and ringed by limestone quarries and gravel pits. It is the best combination of interstate access, rail, and aggregate supply in this county set.
Publicly reported utility-scale solar in and around Clark 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.
Clark County is Wisconsinan till plain with morainal ridges, cut through by the Mad River and Buck Creek outwash valleys that hold thick sand and gravel over Silurian dolomite. Upland soils are Miamian and Celina on the slopes with Crosby on the flats and Kokomo and Brookston in the swales, while Fox, Ockley, Eldean, and Sleeth cover the gravel terraces and Genesee and Ross the bottoms. Around Springfield and toward Clifton the dolomite is close to surface with karst expression, and the buried valley aquifer beneath the Mad River is one of the higher yielding groundwater systems in Ohio. Natural drainage is mixed: the terraces drain freely while the Crosby and Kokomo flats perch water and depend on tile.
This is the strongest aggregate position of the group, with active dolomite quarries and river gravel pits near Springfield keeping stone haul short and changing the economics of access roads, pads, and trench backfill. Upland grading in Miamian and Crosby is workable but the flats and Kokomo swales still need undercut and stone in wet conditions. Shallow dolomite around Springfield and Clifton means trench rock and possible voids, and the high yield aquifer below the Mad River valley makes dewatering discharge, spill control, and fuel handling a permitting issue rather than a formality.
Full detail on the Clark County market is on the Clark 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. 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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