Pickens halts plan for huge wind farm
Technical problems cited; smaller projects possible
By JOHN PORRETTO
HOUSTON — 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 now looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines.
Pickens already had ordered the turbines, which can stand 400 feet tall, bigger than most 30-story buildings.
AP
T. Boone Pickens, president of BP Capital Group, said he now is looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines.
"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, 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. He said he had hoped to build his own transmission lines, but said there were technical problems.
Wind power is a big part of the "Pickens Plan" that was announced a year ago. 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.
E-mail this story
Printer-friendly version
Comments
sandiet (anonymous) says...
Wouldn't it be great is SCE&G would look into wind turbines to provide additional power.
This would eliminate the need for a coal or nuclear powered plant and the environmental risks that the plants would bring.
July 8, 2009 at 7:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eds777 (anonymous) says...
Wind is the worst option available. Nuclear is the best way to go!
July 8, 2009 at 7:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
scottmcx (anonymous) says...
Wouldn't it be "great" if this crap 1. worked 2. didn't cost too much? What a freaking joke. We're all going to freeze in the dark. GO NUKE!
July 8, 2009 at 7:49 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
EthanWill (anonymous) says...
In an ideal world, wind would be a great idea but wind power is not a safe, reliable or efficient means of producing power in SC.
Safety: How would we deal with wind farms during a hurricane since we live in hurricane valley?
Reliable: It doesn't continuously produce power. We don't exactly live in a wind corridor in SC.
Environmental: Essentially you are willing to trade our natural resources i.e. trees, farms, marshlands, etc for acres upon acres of wind farms.
FYI...the US has approx 600 years worth of coal. Wouldn't it make more sense to harness our own country's fossil fuels in a cleaner manner?
Besides nuclear power has Zero emissions and waste can be reduced. Other states that use nuclear power pass on the savings to users. The average electric bill is reduced by more than 65%.
Our energy problem is not a one item solution. We have to approach it as a multi-solution approach.
July 8, 2009 at 9:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
vmirat90 (anonymous) says...
at least he's thinking outside the box, which is more than can be said for the "drill now" crowd. Diversity is the key- use all available options, including nuclear.
That being said, we could have a functional, usable battery operated car within 10 yrs. All they fed govt needs to do is offer a $50,000,000 prize for the first inventor that can create a battery cell that can get 200 miles on a charge. I guarantee someone would have it created in a couple of years- they are already batteries that get 60-70 miles on a charge.
July 8, 2009 at 10:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
PHiers (anonymous) says...
This isn't the first case of the need for hundreds or even thousands of miles of transmission lines causing a wind farm or a solar panel farm to fail. Out in California, the developer of a solar panel farm was unable to put up the required transmission lines because of environmental lawsuits.
The only place you could use wind turbines for SC would be out in the ocean. There is just not enough naturally open space (no deserts or prairie) in SC. Same problem with a solar panel farm. Cutting down trees to put up wind turbines or solar panels defeats the purpose of going "green".
Nuclear is the most efficient, taking up the least amount of footprint acreage for the amount of power produced.
If we were drilling for natural gas off shore (out of sight from the beach) we could convert all of our current coal plants to state produced natural gas within the next 5 years and provide hundreds of new state jobs in the process.
July 8, 2009 at 11:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
icbmman (anonymous) says...
At last we're starting to see the pipedreams of "green energy" recognized for what they really are...fantasies. Wind turbines are hardly out-of-the-box ideas; as a matter of fact, wind power is what our ancestors used as a primitive form of energy. Wind still is primitive, and most of the posters here have indicated why.
Pickens' idea that wind and solar would reduce our dependence on oil is fanciful and utopian. He's just getting the true "green" (as in $$$) from the green industries that are hoping to get more subsidies from the federal government.
The common sense and LOGICAL solutions involve clean coal, nuclear, and natural gas. It's time to get people's heads out of the clouds and focus on REAL solutions.
July 8, 2009 at 3:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Postandcourier.com is pleased to offer readers the enhanced ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Postandcourier.com does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not postandcourier.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Read our full Terms and Conditions.
Users can now build user-to-user connections, follow friends' recent posts, add an avatar that fits their personality, and more. If you have posted here before you'll need to sign up again, or if you've never posted before, start now by signing up!
- Most Commented
- Most Emailed
- Shared
- Upper King on rise: Hotels, apartments, restaurants changing face of downtown area
- UPDATE: Missing woman's fiance seen leaving scene of burned SUV, carrying a shovel
- Missing woman case gets murkier
- Magnolia Gardens offering free dream wedding to contest winner
- Body of missing woman's fiance was found near handgun
- Pinterest: Pinning hopes and dreams
- DAVID SLADE: S.C. offers hybrid car tax credit
- Black women today: Strong. Resilient. Ambitious.
- Ex-Boeing worker claims racism, retaliation in firing
- MCDERMOTT COLUMN: Golf business has risks, rewards
