LRE Brings First Tennessee Solar Project Online

News

LRE Brings First Tennessee Solar Project Online

2025-10-22 00:40 Last Updated At：01:00

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 21, 2025--

LRE (Leeward Renewable Energy) today announced the completion of construction and start of commercial operations at its 177-megawatt (MW) Ridgely Solar project in Lake County, Tennessee, located approximately 100 miles north of Memphis. The project marks LRE’s first operating asset in the state and underscores the company’s commitment to advancing energy solutions across the U.S.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251021828495/en/

Ridgely Solar supplies power to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) under a long-term agreement, supporting TVA’s mission to deliver reliable, clean energy to help meet the region’s growing demand. The project generates substantial economic investment, including approximately $3 million in property tax revenues over its lifetime. Ridgely Solar created approximately 700 jobs during construction, and the revenue generated for the county will go toward supporting schools and public services, altogether strengthening the community.

Beyond delivering reliable and cost-effective energy, Ridgely Solar has become a partner in the Lake County community, supporting initiatives that strengthen education, safety, and family well-being. The project has funded scholarships through the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Northwest, helped build an inclusive playground for children with disabilities, and supported the American Red Cross Mid-South’s local flood relief efforts. Ridgely Solar has also contributed to public safety infrastructure for first responders and provided resources for The Nest, a daycare at Margaret Newton Elementary that offers free childcare to local families.

Ridgely Solar represents a remarkable engineering achievement, driven by innovative solutions that ensure safe construction and long-term performance. LRE’s engineering team collaborated with Nextracker and First Solar, continuing its long-standing partnerships with both U.S.-based leaders. Together, their technologies reduce the need for earthwork and steel, preserve habitats, accelerate deployment, and strengthen domestic supply chains. Nextracker’s NX Horizon-XTR™ terrain-following solar tracker systems, along with First Solar’s advanced thin-film photovoltaic modules, deliver industry-leading performance and reliability. These partnerships underscore LRE’s commitment to resilient energy infrastructure built on U.S.-made innovation.

“Ridgely Solar is a significant milestone as LRE’s first project in Tennessee,” said Eran Mahrer, Chief Commercial Officer at LRE. “The project delivers reliable energy, drives investment in Lake County, and demonstrates our role as a community partner by supporting local priorities. Further, by building on our long-standing relationships with U.S. technology leaders, prioritizing domestic jobs and manufacturing, and integrating innovative solutions that reduce impacts and speed deployment, Ridgely shows how forward-looking projects can strengthen the communities where we operate and contribute to our nation’s long-term energy security.”

“Projects like Ridgely Solar make a lasting difference for our community,” said Danny Cook, Mayor of Lake County. “This project expands opportunity and supports long-term growth for Lake County while contributing to reliable energy for the region.”

About LRE

Founded in Texas in 2003, LRE (Leeward Renewable Energy) owns and operates 30+ wind, solar, and energy storage projects totaling over 4GW nationwide. LRE continues to help meet increased U.S. energy demand through our robust pipeline of new projects every year. We prioritize domestic jobs, local community partnerships, and protecting the land in our long-term approach to meet American energy needs. To learn more, visit www.lreus.com.

Shops empty in a Hispanic neighborhood as immigration crackdown comes to Louisiana

KENNER, La. (AP) — The doors of Carmela Diaz's taco joint are locked, the tables are devoid of customers and no one is working in the kitchen. It's one of many once-thriving Hispanic businesses, from Nicaraguan eateries to Honduran restaurants, emptied out in recent weeks in neighborhoods with lots of signs in Spanish but increasingly fewer people on the streets.

In the city of Kenner, which has the highest concentration of Hispanic residents in Louisiana, a federal immigration crackdown aiming for 5,000 arrests has devastated an economy already struggling from ramped-up enforcement efforts this year, some business owners say, and had far-reaching impacts on both immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.

“Fewer and fewer people came,” said a crying Diaz, whose Taqueria La Conquistadora has been closed for several weeks now with both customers and workers afraid to leave home. “There were days we didn’t sell anything. That’s why I made the decision to close the business — because there was no business.”

On Wednesday, convoys of federal vehicles began rumbling back and forth down Kenner's main commercial streets as the Department of Homeland Security commenced the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations that have included surges in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina. Bystanders have posted videos of federal agents detaining people outside Kenner businesses and at construction sites.

Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino also made an appearance in the city, surrounded by agents in tactical gear, to tout to reporters the launch of the operation dubbed Catahoula Crunch, a name derived from the big game hound that is the Louisiana state dog.

The state's Hispanic population has boomed in the last two decades, with many of them arriving in the aftermath of 2005's Hurricane Katrina to help rebuild. In Kenner, just west of New Orleans between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, Hispanics make up about 30% of residents.

Diaz, who is from El Salvador, arrived in 2006 after years of doing farm work in Texas. She opened food trucks, earning enough to buy a home in Kenner, and her business has since expanded to a fleet of trucks and two brick-and-mortar restaurants.

Nearly all that is shuttered at the moment due to the crackdown, and Diaz is scraping by through making home deliveries to people fearful of being swept up by agents.

“They don’t respect anyone,” Diaz said. “They don’t ask for documents. They don’t investigate. They slap the handcuffs on them and take them away.”

Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Thursday that federal agents have already made dozens of arrests, though the agency has not released a full list of people detained.

“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens harming them, their families, or their neighbors,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “In just 24 hours on the ground, our law enforcement officers have arrested violent criminals with rap sheets that include homicide, kidnapping, child abuse, robbery, theft, and assault.”

The office of Mayor Michael Glaser, a former police chief, declined to comment on his stance on the operation. But it said the crackdown “falls under federal jurisdiction” and the mayor expects all agencies operating in the city to conduct themselves “professionally, lawfully and with respect for our community.” It also said the city is “not participating in or advising” on the operation.

However, the city's police are among the hundreds of local and state law enforcement agencies nationwide that have signed agreements to be part of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program that authorizes them to hold detainees for potential deportation.

Sergio Perez, a Guatemalan immigrant and U.S. citizen who has lived in Kenner since 2010, said he has loved ones there who lack legal permission to be in the country risk and being detained or deported. He also worries that anyone who is Hispanic is at risk of abuse by federal agents, regardless of their immigration status.

While Perez considers Kenner home — a place where it's easy to find favorite dishes like “caldo de res,” a hearty beef and vegetable stew — he's prepared to leave the country if family members are deported.

“They don’t want us here,” Perez said. “It’s like you are in someone’s house and you don’t feel welcome. They’re just killing our spirit.”

Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Associated Press writer Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, contributed.

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.