Wind Power Gets T-Boned By T. Boone
When one car collides with the side of a second car, the results are usually bad. That's what T. Boone Pickens recently did to wind power. The funny thing is, they used to ride in the same car.
T. Boone is the promoter of what is referred to as the "Pickens Plan." That Plan originally emphasized wind power as its solution to the energy and foreign oil problem. He even planned a 4,000 megawatt wind farm in Texa
s and went so far as to order 667 turbines from GE to get the project started.
The wind plans are no more. While the Pickens Plan will go on, it is now focused on natural gas as the solution. The question is why the change of heart.
Well, for T. Boone, it's not so much a change of heart as it is a change of wallet. He has explained that the price of natural gas is so low that it doesn't make sense to pursue the relatively more expensive wind solution. Recognizing that T. Boone has more money than most individuals, corporations or countries, does this mean that wind energy is dead? It doesn't appear so.
Currently, the U.S. has 31,109 MW of wind power production, with another 5,567 being planned. Wind projects in Iowa and Canada are moving forward. 130 turbines off of the coast of Massachusetts appear to be close to approval. China is likely to become a world-wide leader in wind generation and is placing turbines both in China and the U.S. Europe is scheduled to pick up 1,000 MW of wind energy this year.
Certainly the recession and T. Boone have delivered blows to the wind industry. But these seem to be temporary problems. While cost is an issue, subsidies for every sustainable energy source will be necessary to make them viable. For wind, the real issue is creating the transmission lines necessary for delivery of the wind energy from the areas that have the wind to the areas that need the energy. That's an issue that the Midwestern states will need to address soon. But don't count out wind just because T. Boone is a bad driver. The accident didn't total the car, it just left it a little dented. All indications are that wind will continue to be a significant player going forward.
