Souring Economy Snags Pickens’ Wind Energy Plan

Even billionaires are being affected by the current state of the economy, as evidenced by the fact that T. Boone Pickens has been forced to delay his massive wind energy project in Texas. A drop in natural gas prices and the tightening credit market have led Pickens to believe now isn’t the right time to get started on the project.

From CNN Money:

“With natural gas prices where they are, you can’t kick off a wind project, you’re not economical.” Pickens said Tuesday at a news conference in Arizona.

But Pickens, who has spent millions over the last few months promoting his “Pickens Plan” to wean the United States off foreign oil by switching to wind and natural gas, said natural gas and oil prices will rise again in less than a year, and characterized the setback as temporary.

A spokesman for Mesa Power, Pickens’ company that is building the Texas wind farm, laid the blame more on the credit markets.

“The capital markets are problematic for everyone and…may lead us to scale back a bit,” Jay Rosser, a spokesman for Mesa, said in a statement. “But we are still going forward with our wind business.”

Picken’s wind farm in Texas, known as the Pampa Wind Project, would have been the largest wind farm in the world, generating enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes. It’s not grinding to a complete halt, however – a spokesman for Pickens says turbines are still being purchased for the first phase of the project, which will generate 1,000 megawatts of power.  Pickens remains confident that once this economic downturn is over, wind energy will continue to rise in demand.

It’s frightening to see how many important projects are being put on hold right now, just when we need them the most. This economic crisis has the potential to stall crucial action on renewable energy and global warming, if we let it. Hopefully, many projects will still be moving forward.  Time will tell.

Link [CNN Money]
Photo credit: Zimbio

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