Rock drilling contractor for solar pile pre-drilling, construction, mining and seismic work. More than 400,000 holes drilled since 2024, with a newly expanded Epiroc fleet.
XCEL is a rock drilling contractor running modern Epiroc SmartROC, FlexiROC and PowerROC surface drill rigs.
On solar sites, we drill ahead of the pile through rock and refusal layers. On highway and data center projects, we drill tieback and anchor holes. We also drill seismic shot holes for oil and gas mapping and bench drill blast holes for mines and quarries.
DTH and tophammer rigs let us match the method to the ground: 4" to 10" for solar, 3" to 10" for construction, 4" to 6" for seismic, up to 8" for quarry and open-pit mining. We drill the holes. Other trades load, shoot, install and grout.
Since 2024: 1.7+ GW and more than 400,000 holes drilled at 6" to 10". That includes 104,000+ holes on a single 350 MW project. We also drilled 10" holes on a 2023 solar project in Upstate New York. See the projects
Rock, caliche, cobbles and dense layers stop piles short of embedment, and then production stalls. We pre-drill pile locations ahead of the pile line or as refusal remediation, so piles go in by the engineer's approved method. Multi-rig spreads keep ready holes in front of production pile installation. Pile Installation · Solar
Solar pre-drilling since 2019, with hole diameters from 4" to 10" across utility-scale projects.
On highway, data center and civil projects, we drill tieback and anchor holes to spec, plus drilling for rock excavation support. The anchor contractor installs, grouts and stresses the anchors. Construction
Seismic data depends on holes drilled where the survey says, to the depth the program needs. We drill 4" to 6" shot holes for oil and gas seismic mapping, to program depth up to the maximum depth capability of our rigs, across open and rough terrain. Tracked carriers keep the rigs supplied far from the road. Seismic Exploration
For open-pit metals mines and aggregate quarries, we bench drill blast holes up to 8" to the pattern, depth and diameter in your blast design. We drill; your blasting contractor loads and shoots. Mining & Aggregates
When installed solar piles need corrective work, XCEL provides the drilling, working to the remediation plan set by the EPC and the Engineer of Record. We've drilled for pile remediation across multiple projects in the South Central, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. Tell us what the plan calls for and we'll match rigs and hole size to it.
Full specs on the Fleet page.
Rock drilling means high-pressure air, silica dust and heavy rigs. Every employee holds MSHA 48, OSHA 30 and CPR/First Aid, 15 team members hold OSHA 510, and we've kept zero recordables and a TRIR of 0 since 2015.
We drill 4" to 10" holes for solar pre-drill, and 3" to 10" for construction and tiebacks, including 10" holes on a 2023 solar project in Upstate New York. Seismic shot holes run 4" to 6". Quarry and open-pit mining holes run 3" to 8". Tell us the diameter your design calls for and we'll match the rig and tooling.
DTH (down-the-hole) puts the hammer at the bottom of the hole, right behind the bit, which holds straight holes at depth and in larger diameters. Tophammer drives the drill string from the rig and is fast in hard rock at smaller diameters. We run both, so we can match the method to the ground.
Pre-drilling opens a hole through rock or a refusal layer at a pile location so the pile can reach design embedment by the engineer's approved method. We pre-drill ahead of the pile line where the geotech shows rock, or as remediation after refusal. Since 2024 we've drilled more than 400,000 holes across 1.7+ GW of solar.
Yes. We drill 4" to 6" shot holes for oil and gas seismic mapping, to program depth up to the maximum depth capability of our rigs. Morooka rubber-track carriers keep rigs fueled and supplied in rough, remote terrain, and Topcon GNSS RTK over UHF radio puts each hole on its surveyed point without cell service.
No. XCEL drills the blast hole pattern to your design: pattern, burden, spacing, depth and diameter. Loading and shooting are handled by your licensed blasting contractor. We focus on accurate collars and consistent depths, so the blast design gets the results it was built for, on mine benches, quarries and construction rock.
We coordinate rapid mobilization with trusted third-party haulers, so rigs arrive when your schedule needs them. Put your target start date, hole count and diameter in the quote form. We respond to every quote request within 24 hours with questions or a plan to get rigs on your site.
Yes. Our newly expanded Epiroc fleet is built for multi-rig programs, one of the largest Epiroc surface drill fleets in the Southern US. We size the spread to your production target, run day and night shifts when the schedule demands it, and add rigs if the schedule tightens mid-project.
Send the hole pattern, diameters and start date. We respond to every quote request within 24 hours.