North Carolina solar firm to lay off more than 500 workers. Here’s why.
In North Carolina’s second-biggest layoff this year, the solar energy firm Blue Ridge Power will eliminate 517 positions in two cities, Asheville and Fayetteville.
“Over the past several months, the Company has been impacted by factors beyond its control,” Blue Ridge Power president David Sanders said in a Sept. 18 WARN letter to the N.C. Department of Commerce. “Including evolving regulatory and capital market environments that have affected many other companies in the renewable energy sector.”
Businesses must submit WARN letters at least 60 days before conducting certain mass layoffs. North Carolina then deploys a rapid response team to assist workers with locating new job opportunities. Roughly two-thirds of the job cuts will occur in Fayetteville, a city of more than 200,000 residents about 60 miles south of Raleigh.
Blue Ridge was founded in 2021 as an engineering, procurement, and construction (or EPC) division of Pine Gate Renewables, a solar power and energy storage developer in Asheville. On its website, Blue Ridge said it had projects under construction in 14 states and operating solar farms in three North Carolina counties: Stokes, Jones, and Nash.
Pine Gate intends to close Blue Ridge Power entirely, The Asheville Citizen Times reported. The parent company did not respond to questions from The News & Observer about which “regulatory and capital market” precipitated its job cuts, but some solar industry experts have pointed to tariffs on Asian components and the removal of tax exemptions for solar installers under the federal One Big Beautiful Bill.
Blue Ridge Power is one of two mass layoffs in 2025 to affect more than 500 North Carolina workers, topped only by Daimler Truck North America cutting 577 jobs this summer in the small Gaston County city of Mount Holly.
North Carolina historically has supported a robust solar energy sector. According to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association, the state ranks fifth in the nation for total installed solar capacity and its 7,356 total solar jobs last year was No. 11 among U.S. states.
This story was originally published September 25, 2025 at 12:09 PM.
