9 July 2009

Wind project in holding pattern

The world’s biggest wind farm located in the Texas Panhandle is now on hold.

Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens said the wind farm project fell apart partly because of the lack of adequate transmission lines to carry the electricity from remote locations to cities, according to a published report.

The oil tycoon had hoped to build new transmission lines but could not secure financing.

While this changes things quite a bit, Pickens still plans to use the turbines he ordered for the project.

Pickens had already ordered 687 large wind turbines from General Electric, starting in 2011. The problem came about when transmission lines built by the state were not going to reach the location he has leased until 2013, so he needed to put the turbines elsewhere. At one point, Pickens said he would build his own transmission lines, but difficulty in finding financing during the credit crunch affecting the nation forced him to shelve that plan.

Possible locations for the 687 turbines include Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, and Alberta, Canada, Pickens said. Collectively, at a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, which is the size of the power generated from a nuclear plant, this would still amount to a substantial investment in wind power. On the other hand, the Panhandle project power projections came in at 4,000 megawatts.

“We’re going to be active in the business,” Pickens said. “It’s not that we’ve gotten out of the business or anything like that.”

For related information, go to www.isa.org/environment.