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Pickens Calls Off Massive Wind Farm In Texas

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-told-you-those-wind-seeds-were-a-scam dept.

schwit1 writes with this excerpt from an AP report: "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."

3 of 414 comments (clear)

  1. And the steps... by ducomputergeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Step 1: Reduce Refining Capacity through by-outs
    Step 2: Send out pundits to claim how high oil prices will go
    Step 3: Get price of oil/gas high enough that alternate energy starts to become profitable
    Step 4: Get people to invest lots of money on said technologies.
    Step 5: ????
    Step 6: Let the oil bubble burst and take the alternative energy markets with it.

    I'm not sure where profit goes in there, but this also happened in the late 1970's through early 1980's. Right when other means of fuel production came online and people had invested a lot of money in the new technologies, the price of oil suddenly dropped causing the alternatives to quickly go broke and effectively stifle competition for the next couple decades.

    Funny about that history not repeating itself, but sure does rhyme thing.

    This was told to me by a retired GM executive and friend of the family back in 2006/2007 when the price of oil kept going up. He even gave a prediction of that the price of oil would fall around 2008/2009 and when it did, any interest in alternate fuels would go with it. Seems like he may have known something.

    --
    "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
  2. Re:Good. by JSBiff · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Parent is right. PBS has a decent interview which talks about this in language most people should be able to understand. The person being interviewed was the head of a project called the Integral Fast Reactor which was a new approach to recycling the 'waste'. Apparently the project was extremely successful in just about all of its goals (one of which was a focus on creating a new generation of significantly safer nuclear reactors), then canceled at the 11th hour by the Clinton administration in order to win brownie points with anti-nuclear factions of the Democratic party.

  3. Re:A fool and his money are some party by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There IS more to it...WATER and his newly-granted powers of Eminent Domain!

    http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/071008/loc_302185743.shtml
    http://www.junkscience.com/ByTheJunkman/20080731.html
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/TimothyCarney/T_Boone_Pickens_wants_your_water.html
    http://seekingalpha.com/article/24410-t-boone-pickens-invests-in-water-should-you