Massive 20 MW Solar Project Proposed

The Ridgecrest Conference Center could become home to one of the state’s largest investments in solar power, featuring potentially 90,500 solar panels tucked away from view on 200 acres of the mountain retreat.

Amenergy Inc., based in Santa Fe, N.M., has applied to the N.C. Utilities Commission, seeking permission to install solar panels valued at $64.5 million on six tracts around Ridgecrest.

“Ridgecrest Conference Center is discussing the possibility of leasing a few acres in a remote area of our property to Amenergy,” said Jon Wilke, a Lifeway Christian Resources spokesman in Nashville, Tenn.

Lifeway, an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, owns the 1,300-acre conference center in eastern Buncombe County.

The electricity generated by the solar panels — up to 21.5 megawatts of direct current — would be sold to Progress Energy Carolinas, according to documents filed with the Utilities Commission.

Read the full Asheville Citizen-Times article here.