Pickens calls off massive wind farm in Texas
HOUSTON (AP) — Plans for the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas panhandle have been scrapped, energy baron T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday, and he’s looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines. Pickens has already ordered the turbines, which can stand 400 feet tall — taller than most 30-story buildings.
“When I start receiving those turbines, I’ve got to ... like I said, my garage won’t hold them,” the legendary Texas oilman said. “They’ve got to go someplace.”
Pickens’ company Mesa Power ordered the turbines from General Electric Co. — a $2 billion investment — a little more than a year ago. Pickens said he has leases on about 200,000 acres in Texas that were planned for the project, and he might place some of the turbines there, but he’s also looking for smaller wind projects to participate in. He said he’s looking at potential sites in the Midwest and Canada.
In Texas, the problem lies in getting power from the proposed site in the panhandle to a distribution system, Pickens said in an interview with The Associated Press in New York. He’d hoped to build his own transmission lines but he said there were technical problems.
Wind power is a big part of the “Pickens Plan,” which was announced a year ago Wednesday. Pickens has spent $60 million crisscrossing the country and buying advertising in an effort to reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign oil.
“It doesn’t mean that wind is dead,” said Pickens, who runs the Dallas-based energy investment fund BP Capital. “It just means we got a little bit too quick off the blocks.”
Pickens announced in 2007 plans to install the turbines in parts of four Texas panhandle counties.
He had hoped to complete the four-phase project in 2014 and eventually have 4,000 megawatts of capacity, enough to power more than one million homes. The total cost was expected to approach $12 billion.
Renewable energy provides a small fraction of electricity used today, but the wind and solar sectors are the fastest growing in the U.S. In 2008, the U.S. became the world’s leading provider of wind power.
Like most industries around the world, the recession has hurt wind turbine manufacturers and wind farm developers. Companies have shelved development plans and laid off workers.
Jul 8, 2009 at 1:54 a.m.
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Of course it's expensive to build a new wind power plant, but it's also expensive to build ANY power plant. And it's free energy, unlike a fossil-fuel plant (nuclear plants are not a major option, there are only about two applications on file right now and they won't be online for maybe 15 years).
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sannio, you do realize that any given power plant only supplies the energy needs of a few ten thousand homes and businesses, right? Any given power plant.
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History101, I agree the payback is not there for individuals. That's why wind farm placement is so important. A group of turbines can generate X amount of electricity even if N turbines are down due to maintenance or lack of wind. A single turbine is very limited and requires constant load-balancing. There are people who will do this, but they should recognize that they are doing it out of principle or hobbyist interest.
Jul 8, 2009 at 12:02 a.m.
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Yeah, so let's not try to find solutions to our energy problems. Better to create toxic waste that will still be around when the human race is extinct.
Jul 7, 2009 at 9:27 p.m.
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I researched an built a 12' turbine near Rockford in 1984 and received a tax credit for the cost. The government ended the program in 1985 I think. It created 7000 watts in a strong wind - but the wind isn't reliable. Today a small residential system is about $15k and would need a 20+ year payback assuming no breakdowns. As much as I would like to see more wind power, I doubt it will materialize. The answer I believe is nuclear. Clean and creates a lot of jobs. If we have electric cars and more demand, wind turbines aren't going to make a dent in the need.
Jul 7, 2009 at 9:20 p.m.
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Here's a good link. The video is by Dr. Albert Bartlett, professor emeritus of Physics at Univ. of Colorado-Boulder. He's kind of a math nerd, but very easy to understand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpB...
Jul 7, 2009 at 9:15 p.m.
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12 billion dollars to provide energy to 1 million homes. I think there's a few more homes in the USA than a million. Lots more. As noble as wind energy might be, it's not the answer by a long shot. We're not in the crisis yet but we will be soon. Imagine what it took to survive using no external energy besides animals. It took over 90% of the population living on farms just to live from year to year. So far the only solution that will work near-term is nuclear fission such as we have today. Longer term, the only solution so far is nuclear fusion. America should be approaching fusion power just like we did the Apollo moon program times 10. Search on exponential growth, our future energy needs, and what can realistically be done about it to learn more.
Jul 7, 2009 at 8:07 p.m.
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What, "hot air", um I mean wind, is not the answer?
Jul 7, 2009 at 7:14 p.m.
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Unfortunately T. Boone is realizing a major problem inherent with window power. Like real estate it's about location, location, location. Where turbines can be located, transmission lines aren't there. They are very expensive and time consuming to install.
Jul 7, 2009 at 6:36 p.m.
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I think that the intended term was "raze".
Jul 7, 2009 at 5:45 p.m.
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I was going to take issue with your posting, first of all because the GM plant is in a bit of a valley so it's not exactly the optimum site for wind turbines. Then I realized that you want to lift up the whole plant so maybe it would be high enough!
Jul 7, 2009 at 5:32 p.m.
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bring em here and put them where GM is now!! Maybe he would pay to raise the plant first, a win for us.
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