T. Boone Pickens Wants To Build World's Largest Wind Farm In W. Texas - 4 Gigs

[hatrack]

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is planning to cash in on the wind energy boom by building the world's largest wind farm in West Texas. The oil tycoon wants to install large wind turbines in parts of four Panhandle counties in a project that would produce up to 4,000 megawatts of electricity, Pickens spokesman Mike Boswell said Wednesday.

If Pickens' company, Mesa Power LP, does build the wind farm it would be the largest in the world, American Wind Energy Association spokeswoman Susan Williams Sloan said. It would generate more than five times the 735 megawatts produced at the present largest wind farm near Abilene. One megawatt is enough to power 250 homes in Texas, Sloan said.

Pickens' proposal, which would cost as much as $6 billion, would fall just short of nearly doubling what Texas had at the end of 2006, when wind power totaled about 2,700 megawatts, she said.

Not all planned wind projects in Texas become reality, though. Earlier this week, a developer who planned to build what would have been the nation's largest offshore wind farm in South Texas called off the project because it didn't make economic sense.

EDIT

http://www.star-telegram.com/448/story/135851.html

[TwilightGardener]

1. I applaud the wind farm, but wasn't he the asshole who was trying to sell

off rights to the Ogalalla Aquifer?

[Captain Angry]

4. I can't speak to that one...

But the WSJ was reporting the other day about his purchases of water rights in Texas.

Water is the future. Energy will happen in some form or another, but I'm not aware of a replacement for water yet.

http://blogs.wsj.com/energy/2007/06/13/t-boone-pickens-invests-in-wind/

http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/default.asp?ArID=185868

[kestrel91316]

2. Well, he didn't get to be a billionaire by being dumb.....

[Dogmudgeon]

3. The devil in the details --

That's "up to 4 GW."

The usual return in a wind plant is about 20%, so the expected amount of energy is around 1 GW, or maybe a little less if they only hit average output. It's possible, too, that Pickens is siting his power plant in an area with better-than-average wind, but most wind farms are already well-sited, which moves the average up.

I still think this is a good start, but nearly every article I've seen posted here declares the millennium over such projects. At this point, we ought to be focused on the overall output. Wind power still produces less than a percent of our power demands, and its growth rate has allegedly been 30% per year. PECO (Philadelphia Electric Co.), for instance, has consistently promised more than it has delivered to end-users, and it is difficult to get accurate figures from them.

"Not all planned wind projects in Texas become reality, though. Earlier this week, a developer who planned to build what would have been the nation's largest offshore wind farm in South Texas called off the project because it didn't make economic sense."

Well, we have to make it make sense. We must demand more progress.

--p!

[Dover]

5. Private ownership of basic energy and water is not the way to go.

And certainly not in the greedy little hands of Pickens. He would eventually have the whole state by the nose and pocketbooks. Self serving ex-oil typhoon.