Texas OK's $5 Billion power transmission project for wind power.

[dkerr24]

What do you guys think of this?  $4 extra a month on your electric bill to pay for it...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25723033/

T. Boone Pickens gave a huge amount of money to my Alma Mater (Okla State).  I think Mr. Pickens has some sound ideas that could push us in the right direction away from foreign oil imports.

[Buck]

I'm more in favor of letting stockholders absorb the risk associated with new ventures like this - let them vote with their wallets instead of putting a gun to everyone else's heads and making them pay - that's what taxes are, afterall.

In my perfect pretend world de-regulated investors would start building nuclear power plants everywhere and then use all that extra electricity to generate hydrogen for our hydrogen powered automobiles.  Also, I would get a pony.

[Ay Chihuahua!]

Regarding T. Boone, I'm not really sure what the wily old guy is up to, but it sure does look like he is making a lot of money off the backs of Texas tax payers.  First he fixes it so he can suck all the water out of west Texas and sell it to D/FW and now he's got the state paying to hook his windmills to the grid.

Check out his commercial, if you haven't already.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/R2bOug1d20c&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/R2bOug1d20c&rel=0</a>

What do foreign oil and electricity production have to do with one another? 

Maybe he's going to offer us electric cars next. 

[SHANEA]

Last I read TBP was building his own private transmission network and his windpower would be built up in the Panhandle?

I'm all for it.  Energy prices overall should decrease based on cheap wind electricity.  Maybe all them turbines will suck the bad air out of Big Bend and improve the view vista.

[Casa Grande]

Saw a bunch of these on the way through the Panhandle on my road trip the last few weeks. And, saw a bunch more being hauled into Fort Stockton, ready to ship, to the Panhandle, presumably.  These things are going up at an astronomical rate.

I'm all for the private investor risking his/her own money, although I think it is a very smart investment.  Currently, Texas uses more energy than it can generate.  Although, nuclear energy is a viable solution, it would take entirely too long to produce the plants and far too controversial.   Wind energy can not only reverse our energy consumption, it is safe, environmentally safe, (the bird argument sounds like an argument used by nea-sayers a hundred years ago about autos) Texas is poised to regain it's command of the energy market.....bravo on this deal... ......not to mention, it frees up a lot of natural-gas consumption that can take the place of gasoline in your engine.

[Al]

If T. Boone is buying into wind AND spending all the money he is on advertising, it's got to beat the heck out of natural gas which is where T. Boone has made most of his money.  My limited understanding is that wind is not competitive with coal/lignite or existing nuclear power plants which we rely on and will rely on for base-line power which is the minimum amount of power required to supply the grid hour by hour and day by day.  Wind does compete well with gas which is used to meet peak demands.  The problem with wind power is, obviously, even though there is usually a lot of wind energy to be collected, the wind does not always blow.  So we still need enough generation capacity, probably natural gas (at least around here), that can quickly be brought on line when the wind she does not blow. I'm not sure how quickly a coal or nuclear plant can respond to increased demands but it is probably limited in response time when compared to gas turbines.  We will need more base line power which will probably be either coal or nuclear supplemented by wind and gas.  Solar is getting more economical but isn't there yet, at least in Texas weather conditions.  Regardless of all this, the more we use alternative renewable energy the less coal or nuclear we will need, at least to a certain point.

Al

[TheWildWestGuy]

Being an old guy I don't think of T Boone too fondly.  He calls himself an oil man but made most of his money by greenmailing oil companies back in the 1980's and his own oil company (Mesa Petroleum) went under and laid off their entire staff.  What kind of "oil man" is that?    I am not saying he isn't smart I am saying he isn't some kind of energy hero, kind old geezer or anyone TWWG would ever respect.   He tends to want to get himself into some kind of taxpayer-funded monopoly position where he can really make huge profits while screwing over the little guys around him and sucking money out of the taxpayers instead of his investors.    His wind energy plans all call for taxpayer funded transmission lines (big $$ because of the long distances) and the State will still have to have essentially enough spare capacity = the same capacity to keep the lights and AC's going on calm days (normally Summer but unpredictable).   If he or his investors want to put their own money into the grid and sell power at  competitive rates that's great but he is going to use the existing laws to milk money out of the State.   I don't trust him and would not believe anything he says or does, he is only looking out for his own financial interests regardless of what he appears to be on the outside... TWWG (not a T Boone lover).

[dkerr24]

This post might be a bit off the topic of T. Boone Pickens, but O.G. & E. runs a big windmill farm around Weatherford, OK.  My family owns some land in the middle of the windfarm and we got the opportunity to take a tour of the windmills.  They only need a wind of 3-5 mph to work, and automatically feather if the winds exceed 55 mph.  There is no shortage of wind in western OK, to be sure. :)

The placement of each unit is planned thoroughly, and wind speed tests were conducted for a long period of time to find the optimum locale for each generating unit.

It is amazing how quiet they are while running, even while standing directly underneath them.  Each one can supply the needs of 40 homes.

When driving towards the farm, they don't look that big... until you walk up to the base of one.  These things are quite impressive - 120ft span of the blades. 

Some environmentalists say that native birds are killed by the spinning blades...  I don't know how that could happen, as the blades turn very slowly... less than 30 revolutions per minute.  A bird that can manage to get hit by something that slow probably needs to be removed from the gene pool anyway. :)

Now back to Mr. Pickens.   My only experience of what he can do is what he has done for OSU.  The money he has given to the school will definitely make OSU one of the most competitive schools in the country.  He carries a lot of respect around these parts due to his generosity.

I think the state of Texas is making a bold move that will setup the state as the leader in clean power generation.  I think we'd all love to flip the bird at the Middle East and one day tell them we no longer will be transferring our wealth to them.

And as Mr. Pickens said this morning on CBS.  'I'm 80 years old, worth $4 billion dollars.  This isn't about profit, it's about America'. 

[Buck]

Hmmmm.....  I wouldn't be able to pick Mr. Pickens out of a police lineup but I do know that when someone says it isn't about the money you can damn well bet it's about the money.

I do know men who fit this profile.  For them the acquisition of wealth is the biggest sport there is.  The rules are whatever they can get away with and the law is the line you lean as far over as you can or that you re-draw. 

Think "There Will Be Blood".

[homerboy2u]

I am a service contractor with two power companies here and some coal mines, who fuel these power plants. Until last year, when i talked to the maintenance supervisor, of one of the plants. He said that,ti cost them 0.25 dollars/watt to produce with coal and almost $2.25 dollars with sunlight.

  Until the gvt's in the world extend more tax benefits,exercise less fees over these companies, we are going to keep using coal/nuclear generating energy for a good while.

 The windmill poles that Dkerr24 sees at OK, probably were made in Monclova,Mexico. Not the blades or the generator dynamo.

[Al]

My point was not that T. Boone is someone to be admired but that he is very successful and one should assume this IS all about the money.  What he is investing in tells us lesser mortals a whole lot.

Al

[dkerr24]

I agree, saying 'its not about profit' makes for good press, but not good business. 

We all know Mr. Pickens is not doing this to lose billions of dollars of his own money.  He sees a chance to make money and do something positive.  His plans cannot be dismissed as a joke as he comes from the 'wrong side of the tracks' to make this type of recommendation.

If some tree-hugging greenpeace dude said 'lets build windfarms'... most of us would nod and laugh.  But when a billionaire oil man/philanthropist says this is a way for us to become independent of foreign oil, we all should listen sincerely.

Like he said, 'we can't drill our way out of this'.

[badknees]

Some environmentalists say that native birds are killed by the spinning blades...  I don't know how that could happen, as the blades turn very slowly... less than 30 revolutions per minute.  A bird that can manage to get hit by something that slow probably needs to be removed from the gene pool anyway. :)

Boy are you going to be popular with the Audubon Society.

Migrating birds are killed in huge numbers by flying into buildings, and buildings don't move. Keeping in mind the the number of migrants that enter Texas crossing the Gulf beaches, it will be highly improbable that you will see any windmills on Texas Coast any time soon.

[SHANEA]

One has to wonder, and I'm a left leaning environmentalist, how many migratory birds, etc. are killed by the effects of mercury poisoning generated by power plants - or populations reduced - lower birth rates/survival rates, etc.  There isn't going to be a perfect solution until mankind is extinct. 

[badknees]

One has to wonder, and I'm a left leaning environmentalist, how many migratory birds, etc. are killed by the effects of mercury poisoning generated by power plants - or populations reduced - lower birth rates/survival rates, etc.&nbsp; There isn't going to be a perfect solution until mankind is extinct.&nbsp;

You may find the answer here.
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3/reports/volume6.pdf