Buncombe County has highlighted several recent clean energy initiatives as part of its ongoing effort to achieve 100% renewable energy for county operations by 2030 and for the wider community by 2042. The county is implementing a range of strategies to meet these goals, with three projects recently completed.
“We are in a changing climate,” said Sustainability Officer Jeremiah LeRoy. “These past few months have been a direct result of the changing climate that we’re in. Ultimately, we feel that clean air, clean water, and renewable energy are a responsibility.”
LeRoy emphasized the importance of using renewable energy in county-owned spaces. “We feel it’s incumbent upon us as stewards of public trust and public dollars to do what we can to save taxpayer dollars, to reduce our carbon emissions, and to do what we can to help our local environment.”
One initiative involved installing solar panels at fire stations across Buncombe County through partnerships with Eagle Solar & Light and Pisgah Energy. These installations are expected to offset an average of 55% of each station’s energy use. Eight out of ten planned solar projects have been completed at various locations including Leicester Volunteer Fire Department, Skyland Fire and Rescue, Swannanoa Main Station, Upper Hominy Fire and Rescue, West Buncombe Fire Department, Woodfin Volunteer Fire Department, Town of Black Mountain Main Station, and Town of Black Mountain Station #2. The remaining two installations will be finished later in May.
The combined output from all ten sites is projected at approximately 494 kilowatt hours annually—the equivalent greenhouse gas reduction achieved by removing 78 passenger vehicles from the road each year.
In another project this week, Buncombe County installed its first two battery storage systems at the Public Safety Training Center and the Health and Human Services building. These batteries store excess solar power generated during sunny periods for later use when demand or electricity prices are higher. This approach aims to improve cost efficiency while providing some protection against future increases in utility costs.
“This is a really exciting project,” LeRoy said. “because it helps to enhance the investments we’ve already made in solar.” According to the Office of Sustainability’s estimates, just the Training Center installation could save $840,000 over thirty years. The battery storage projects were developed with McKim & Creed and Infinite Energy Advisors with partial funding from a federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant.
Additionally, Duke Energy has completed construction on a five-megawatt solar plant at the old Woodfin Landfill site leased from Buncombe County. The facility covers 25 acres on land closed since 1996 and is expected to generate enough electricity for about 1,000 customers annually—helping advance the county’s renewable targets by around 20%. More information about this project can be found here.
In related educational outcomes within Buncombe County school districts during the 2022-23 school year: Of senior students taking the science portion of the ACT exam (2,010 total), only about 28.5% were considered ready for college (source). For juniors (1,931 tested), readiness was slightly higher at just over 30% (source). In reading proficiency among seniors (2,010 tested), about 41% met college readiness benchmarks (source), while juniors had similar results at roughly 43% (source). Math scores showed lower readiness rates: among seniors (2,010 tested), just over one-quarter met standards (source); among juniors (1,931 tested), nearly one-third did so (source).
