T. Boone Pickens scraps windfarm plan.
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 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.
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.
Views: 20
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Checkmateking on
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Wow, old are you? Out of school for summer. I don't post on the out of gas off topic, this article has done better on the main board as it is.
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Permalink Reply by sesport on
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Check - Oh, I don't care that it's done better. Matter of fact, I thought it deserved to be read otherwise I wouldn't have posted it myself. Glad to see folks reading & responding to it.
What I now have to question is how well you know Gore from reading him (and thus make comments about him) because it seems you may not even know this site very well (as evidenced by your not reading even the side banners on the main page).
Have a good day - sesport :0). -
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Permalink Reply by Checkmateking on
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I don't need anyone who flies around the world on a private jet who made all his money in the oil and coal business to tell me a damn thing about the environment, I am informed enough to make that decision.
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Permalink Reply by sesport on
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Check - How can you be, as you say, "informed enough" if you don't read & consider the opposing point of view?
How can you know whether Pickens' plan will or will not work effectively if you don't check out the other side of your position on it?
PS - I've now seen that there are/were changes to the Senate version of the energy legislation ... no more "climate change," I think wording has been changed to "energy efficiency." Let's just call it "reduce dependence on foreign/imported fuels" legislation. -
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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on -
Gore Denies Ken Lay, Goldman Sacks CEOs Help Develop CO2 Trading 'Scheme'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C28avoSrYyQ
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Permalink Reply by Pipeliner on
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Ever Wonder Where The Gore Family Got Their Millions?
++++++++++++++++++++++++AL GORE THEME: "IF I HAD A HAMMER"
----------------------------------by F.R. Duplantier-30 Nov 2000
If Al Gore Jr. ever becomes President, he'll have to
answer some embarrassing questions about the source of
his family's wealth. "One of the minor mysteries of
American politics has been the source of wealth for the
family of Vice President Albert Gore Jr.," observes
Joseph Goulden of Accuracy in Media. "When Gore's
father was first elected to the House of
Representatives in the late 1930s," Goulden continues,
"he was an impecunious Tennessee school teacher who
eked out extra dollars by playing fiddle at church
weddings. But later, as a United States Senator, he
lived in the plush Fairfax Hotel on Embassy Row in
Washington, and sent his son, Al Jr., to the pricey St.
Albans School, the haunt of kids from Social Register
families."In a recent issue of the Washington Inquirer, Goulden
summarizes the contents of a new book called Dossier,
written by investigative reporter Edward Jay Epstein,
which "shows that the senior Gore had a silent partner
who for several decades insured that his pockets
remained comfortably filled. He was Armand Hammer, the
multi-millionaire businessman and oil promoter who
apparently collected art and politicians with equal
zeal." Goulden notes that Al Gore Sr. was "Hammer's
designated door-opener in official Washington." The
handsome compensation that Gore Sr. received for his
services culminated in a half-a-million-dollars-a-year
position with Armand Hammer's oil company, Occidental
Petroleum. Al Gore Jr. picked up where his father left
off and "put the family's Senate seat at Hammer's
service."Goulden describes Armand Hammer as "one of the odder,
more odious characters of American business and
politics, 'famous' chiefly because he was rich enough
to promote his mammoth ego." He notes that Hammer's
carefully and expensively crafted public persona was
"that of a renegade oilman who made billions from
Libyan oil, chummed around with politicians up to White
House level, and adorned acres of galleries with
paintings, some priceless, some fakes. Hammer's lawyers
bedeviled honest journalists who tried to write
otherwise."Hammer's powerful influence on Al Gore Sr. and Jr.
would have been bad enough had he been nothing more
than an unscrupulous businessman. Like his father
Julius, however, he was a lifelong Communist and a
friend of the Soviet Union. "Some scattered hints that
Hammer's ties with the USSR went beyond business
friendship have surfaced over the years," says Goulden.
Documents discovered in Soviet archives, however, leave
no doubt that Hammer was "a man who bribed and cheated
his way to great wealth -- and who started with Soviet
gold."Edward Jay Epstein's new book, Dossier, makes a
compelling case that both Al Gore Sr. and Al Gore Jr.
were the willing partners of a very powerful and very
wealthy man, Armand Hammer, who was not loyal to the
United States of America. A truly independent press
would have exposed these connections decades ago, long
before Al Gore Sr. and Jr. rose to their prestigious
and influential positions.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
For the complete article:
http://christianparty.net/gore.htm
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Permalink Reply by sesport on
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Pipeliner - Beware "emotional trigger words" & phrases ...
embarrassing questions
mysteries of American politics
impecunious
plush
pricey
apparently collected art and politicians
pockets remained comfortably filled
designated door-opener
odder, more odious characters
mammoth ego
Oh, heck, I could do this faster if I just paste your entire article then delete the few words that aren't emotionally laden.
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Permalink Reply by jffree1 on
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From the desk of T. Boone Pickens
________________________________________________________________________________
Army --
A very quick note to discuss one issue with you: my wind farm project in Pampa, Texas. There have been a lot of media stories about it, many of which misinterpreted my future plans. I want to be very clear with you that I am delaying, not cancelling, the project.
This misreporting is no doubt being fueled by those aggressively trying to convince Congress and the American public that wind and solar power can’t contribute significantly to solving our energy problems. They are wrong.
I think the Bloomberg article pasted below will help clarify exactly where things are. The difficult economic situation in the U.S.—and around the world—is driving this decision, as is the need for new transmission lines in place, not any loss of support for wind energy in America, as some may have you believe.
Renewable energy is—and always will be—an important part of the Pickens Plan and will help our continued march towards energy independence. I know many of you have asked for an explanation which I appreciate and you should always feel free to ask me anything.
I cannot ever thank you enough for your continued support for the Pickens Plan.
- T. Boone Pickens
Texas Wind Project Won't Be Canceled
By Daniel Whitten
July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens said today that he is delaying, not canceling, a $10 billion wind energy project in Texas.
The so-called Pampa project will be postponed until 2013 when Texas is expected to complete a $4.9 billion transmission line, Pickens said in Washington today. News reports yesterday that he was ending the project are wrong, he said.
"I didn't cancel it," said Pickens, 81, the chairman of Dallas-based BP Capital LLC. "Financing is tough right now so what is going to happen is it's going to be pushed back a year or two." Pickens spoke after a press conference to promote legislation intended to encourage the development of natural gas-powered vehicles.
Pickens last year began promoting a national energy plan that relies on domestically produced natural gas to cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Electricity generated by gas and coal could be replaced with wind and solar power once the grid is improved.
His Mesa Power LLP ordered 667 wind turbines from General Electric Co. last year for delivery, he said, starting in the first quarter of 2011. The turbines, which can produce up to 1,000 megawatts, may be installed "in Minnesota or someplace else," he said. Or he may just "put 'em in the garage," he said.
Pickens said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday that it is necessary to build a 21st century power grid to advance wind energy, which he said could happen quickly.
"I'm in the business and we are going to build the Pampa project," he said after the press conference today.
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