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Don’t Mess With Texas On Wind Power? |
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| By Michael d'Estries in Green Living, Wind Power | June 18, 2007 | ||
The last place you would expect the world’s largest wind farm to reside would be the state of Texas. The Lonestar State has for many decades been a poster child for the oil industry. A wealthy oilman and investor by the name of Boone Pickens is turning a greener shade and hoping to cash in on the burgeoning U.S. renewable energy industry. From the article,
“Pickens’ proposed new energy gamble is important to Texas because it could put the state another significant step toward reducing its heavy reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation. It also could help solidify Texas’ No. 1 ranking among the 50 states in wind power generation capacity.
Never accused of thinking small, Pickens could put as many as 2,000 wind turbines on nearly 200,000 acres in thinly populated Gray, Roberts, Hemphill and Wheeler counties. He’s talking about generating 2,000 to 4,000 megawatt, roughly the equivalent of one or two Comanche Peak nuclear power plants and enough juice to power several hundred thousand homes.”
Such an installation will cost roughly $6 billion dollars! According to the article, Pickens is well connected in the financial-markets and has in-depth knowledge of the energy world. In a time when wind energy in the U.S. rose nearly 27% last year, his gamble may pay off huge down the road. Who would have ever thought that Texas could be become a world-wide leader in renewable energy? The times, they are a changin’.
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Julian Brown said,
Just a note about this. If you drive west from San Antonio on Interstate 10, there are 100’s of miles of wind farms already on the plateaus on the tops of the hills. I do not how far west you have to go before you see them, but I drove that way in 2005 and was impressed with the number of windmills present.
This is even before Boone starts his work.
Julian