Klamath County, Ore. – A billion dollar hydroelectric storage project could bring needed jobs to Klamath County…but the development has some strong opposition.
Backers say the Swan Lake North Pumped Storage Project would generate 170 jobs, and 22 million dollars for Klamath County.
In short, the project acts as a battery.
Joe Eberhardt of EDF Renewable Energy explains that water is pumped from a low reservoir to a higher reservoir during low energy use periods…
“When that energy is needed back on the grid, we release the water to flow back down hill to the lower reservoir, and it recreates electricity to provide it when it’s needed.”
But not everyone is sold on the concept.
“I’m opposed to the project.” States Del Fox of Dairy. “Because it uses 20% more power than it delivers. So that’s an automatic rate increase for all the rate payers.”
About 90 people showed up for a hearing Wednesday night.
The project was proposed back in 2010 for the Swan Lake area, about 11 miles northeast of Klamath Falls.
Power lines sparked hot debate – but developers say they’ve picked a path of least resistance.
EDF’s Joe Eberhardt: “The one that ended up being the preferred alternative was the one that was least impactful to all of the stakeholders.”
Del Fox says the 30 miles of transmission line is still an unresolved issue…
“The bottom line is it’s going to destroy some perfectly good farm ground out there.”
Developers say they hope to have the plant operational in 2023.
The Swan Lake project was initially designed to store over 1300 megawatts of energy…those plans have since been scaled back to about 400 megawatts.
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