Klamath County Commissioner Derrick DeGroot speaks with Keno-area residents about growing concerns surrounding the proposed Klamath Falls Energy Center, a solar and battery storage project planned near Keno, during a town hall meeting Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. {span data-olk-copy-source=”MessageBody”} {/span}
Klamath County Commissioner Derrick DeGroot speaks with Keno-area residents about growing concerns surrounding the proposed Klamath Falls Energy Center, a solar and battery storage project planned near Keno, during a town hall meeting Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. {span data-olk-copy-source=”MessageBody”} {/span}
“This isn’t a project. This is a person farming around seeing how far it can go through the permitting process to then sell it to somebody else,” Klamath County Commissioner Derrick DeGroot told attendees during a passionate town hall meeting Wednesday evening in Keno discussing the Klamath Falls Energy Center.
The project in question is a proposed $500 million solar and battery storage facility by renewable energy company Orsted that would generate up to 400 megawatts of solar power paired with a 400-megawatt battery system capable of storing approximately 1,600 megawatt-hours of electricity. Along with rows of photovoltaic solar panels, the facility would include tracking systems, inverters, transformers, electrical collection systems and other infrastructure needed to generate, store and transmit electricity. According to Orsted estimates, the facility could generate enough electricity annually to serve the equivalent of approximately 70,000 homes.
The build would be located about 1.5 miles northwest of Keno and 18 miles west of Klamath Falls, a site that many nearby residents are displeased with.
“We’re not anti-solar, we just don’t want it here,” Klamath County resident Thomas Goy said.
Nearby residents’ concerns about wildfire risk, wildlife habitat and migration corridors, water resources, wetlands and the conversion of approximately 8,600 acres of timberland for energy development led to the formation of the Keno Wildlands Alliance to oppose the Klamath Falls Energy Center (KFEC).
“Residents chose Keno in part because of its forested mountain setting, clean air and water, low traffic, rural character, the quiet sounds of nature and lack of urban noise, dark night skies and proximity to the Klamath River,” the organization wrote in its official position pamphlet. “The KFEC project would transform the forested uplands and natural quiet that define Keno’s landscape, stripping miles of living forest to make way for industrial solar infrastructure, a scale of change that would alter the visual, hydrological, ecological and safety characteristics of the area.”
The Oregon Department of Energy informed surrounding property owners of a notice of intent filed by Orsted in February, which prompted a slew of emails from Keno-area residents expressing opposition to the proposal. Klamath County Commissioner Derrick DeGroot, the county’s liaison to Keno, met with residents to answer questions about the proposed project Wednesday, Aug. 26 at the Keno Open Bible Church.
“I don’t think this is a project. I’ve been (a county commissioner) for close to a decade, and have seen a lot of projects — many and many of them — just die,” DeGroot said. “Most of the projects that come across our desks never happen. Even after filing a notice of intent, most of them of this scale just don’t happen.”
With Orsted having launched a website dedicated to the Klamath Falls Energy Center where it states it anticipates beginning commercial operations in 2032, and with landowner Green Diamond Resource Co. stating on its corporate website that it entered into a lease option agreement with Orsted in 2022 — giving the developer until 2032 to conduct due diligence and pursue permitting for the project — many in attendance feel the project is imminent.
“Orsted isn’t looking at this project as fake. I don’t think Green Diamond is looking at it as fake either,” Keno resident Sean Hensley said. “The county needs to start taking this seriously as well. To those of us who have lived out here our whole lives, it is very frustrating.”
During the assembly, DeGroot said publicly stating how he would vote on the project if it were to come before the county could create a conflict of interest. He cautioned that prejudging the proposal could expose Klamath County to legal action and potentially undermine the county’s position in the permitting process. He would further go on to say that he wouldn’t tell any private landowner what to do with their property.
“As long as it fits within zoning laws, everyone in this room gets the same rights to do with their property what they will, just as Green Diamond gets to do,” DeGroot said. “Nobody gets to prevent someone from leasing their land and filing for permits. I would never proactively tell someone not to. That’s wrong.”
Following an issuance of a Project Order by the Oregon Department of Energy in May, KFEC must next prepare and submit a preliminary application for site certificate addressing the state’s requirements before the proposal can advance through further review; that application must be submitted by Dec. 22, 2027, according to the current timeline. The application and subsequent state review are expected to examine a range of potential impacts associated with the project, including land use, wildlife habitat, cultural resources, water, wildfire prevention, public safety and the eventual decommissioning and restoration of the site.
The KFEC project is still in the notice of intent stage, meaning it remains relatively early in the Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council’s review and has not been approved for construction. As of press time, no permit requests have been filed with Klamath County.
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