Blue Ridge Power, the engineering, procurement and construction firm created by utility-scale solar developer Pine Gate Renewable, filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice with the state of North Carolina, notifying the state of mass layoffs.
The layoffs include 348 jobs in Cumberland County and 169 jobs in Buncombe County. The 517 job cuts represent a large portion of over 700 employed by the company. Blue Ridge Power is headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina.
“Blue Ridge Power has experienced market headwinds similar to those impacting the entire renewable energy industry, requiring Pine Gate Renewables to dedicate significant resources to support the organization. After reviewing numerous options to find a path forward, Pine Gate made the difficult decision to conduct an orderly wind-down of Blue Ridge Power,” said Pine Gate Renewables in a statement.
Founded in 2021, the company has added significant solar capacity to the Carolinas, including the 108 MW Trent River solar project in Pollocksville, North Carolina, the 110 MW Phobos project in Middlesex, the 70 MW Lick Creek project in Walnut Cove and the 98 MW Centerfield solar project in Chesterfield, South Carolina.
The company website lists 14 states with projects under construction with 1.2 GW of projects actively being built. It reports it has built 8 GW of solar projects nationwide.
“Blue Ridge Power will continue to assess how best to support each of its ongoing projects, including working with its customers to transition those projects to another EPC provider,” said the statement from Pine Gate Renewables. “This decision in no way reflects the hard work or dedication of our valued team members, and we are deeply grateful for all of their contributions.”
Job market
Clean energy jobs have grown three times faster than overall U.S. workforce since 2020, but federal obstruction puts job growth at risk, according to a recent report from E2. In 2025, job growth slowdowns and investment cancellations persist. E2 research shows that since January 2025, businesses cancelled more than $22 billion of planned clean energy factories and projects that were expected to create 16,500 jobs. Analysis by Energy Innovation suggests that more than 830,000 jobs could be lost due to policy rollbacks created by the Trump Administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The U.S. clean energy workforce now stands at 3.56 million. In 2024, 7% of all new jobs in the United States were in clean energy, and clean energy represented 82% of all new energy sector jobs. However, approximately 50,000 fewer jobs were created in 2024 as compared to 2023.
“What these numbers show is that this was one of the hottest and most promising job sectors in the country at the end of 2024,” said Bob Keefe, E2’s executive director. “Now, clean energy job growth is at serious risk – and with it, our overall economy.”
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