From Slashdot:
In 2008, billionaire T. Boone Pickens unveiled his ‘Pickens Plan’ on national TV, which calls for America to end its dependence on foreign oil by increasing use of wind power and natural gas. Over the next two years, he spent $80 million on TV commercials and $2 billion on General Electric wind turbines.
Unfortunately market forces were not favorable to Mr. Pickens, and in December 2010 he announced that he is getting out of the wind power business. What does he plan to do with his $2 billion worth of idle wind turbines? He is trying to sell them to Canada, because of Canadian law that mandates consumers to buy more renewable electricity regardless of cost.
On his website he says this about 2011-
We’re not going away. If I’ve learned anything during the many years of my business career it is this: No one has ever accomplished his or her goal by quitting or failing to meet and overcome a challenge. You reach your goal by hitching up your pants and wading back into the fight.
That’s what I’m going to do in 2011. And I know you’ll be with me.
Likely the market forces will have a say.
Here’s a video of his plan in better days-
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Wind Power is going away, again, because of the same old problem: It is unsustainable. Who would burn more than 3 barrels of oil to recover 1 barrel? This is the fraud of wind power with an EROEI of 0.29. Good riddance!
And Merry Christmas to all.
another con man out to make a buck……….
only it’s our buck and we are paying for it
With any luck the election next year will allow Ontarians to expel the believers in magic jobs (we need something to replace autos don’t you know, just don’r tell GM or Chysler workers it’s done) and end the nightmare of excessive subsidies planned by the Ontario government (which does not appear to have a cogent plan).
My favorite story are those near Wolfe Island near Kingston who are bothered by the flashing air navigation lights (never thought about that I’m sure, even people in up-state NY are bothered). The area is unsightly now and the only people I know who thing they are “attractive” are Torontonians living over 200 km away. But don’e fear, the Ontario government has mandated that turbines can’t be built within 5 km of shore, ensuring no loss of votes in wet Toronto.
T. Boone has confirmed what I have always thought, these things are only built if someone else pays the freight.
Take one down? Laker board discusses future of school’s turbines
December 24, 2010
PIGEON — What is the main purpose of the Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker wind turbines? Is it to educate students and others, or is it to save the district money?
How much can the district save?
Without the turbines operating, the district would pay about $50,500 for electricity at the elementary school per year.
Last year, the district saved $9,563 by running the wind turbines. However, because the district replaced the set of blades on the front turbine last year after the 2008 blade loss, the district ended up spending more money on the repair than what the turbines saved — about $3,000 to $4,000 more.
http://www.michigansthumb.com/articles/2010/12/24/news/local_news/doc4d11f21351a01151892092.txt
I’ve made a nice walk today in a landscape similar to that on the video, only covered with 40 cm of snow. Beautiful weather, freezing cold.
Non of the wind mills was producing any power. No wind.
And the solar panels on the roofs due to the thick pack of snow also out of order.
It’s 100% in need of back up power
Wind and solar therefore isn’t alternative energy but obsolete energy.
The ultimate waste of money.
It is my understanding that his company is retaing water rights awarded to them for putting up the turbines. Now that he’s not going to do that it will be interesting if they “sell” them back at a nice profit.
Merry Christmas to all!
As a Canadian citizen, resident and taxpayer, I must say – this news is craptastic!!!!
As a regular reader of WUWT, I must also say yuck. This plan of soaking the taxpayer to build wind power monstrosities is a terrible idea for all the reasons we well know.
I need to call my Minister of Parliament and the Prime Minister!!
Best to all this holiday season.
Now if the State of NJ would abandon wind (and solar). My electrical rates went from $0.12 to over $0.18 in large part because of this stupid ‘green’ energy. Utilities are mandated to buy the energy credits and those cost of course are passed off to the consumer.
Surely T. Boone Pickens must have been a sidesman for Bleeding Gums Murphy? Before he met Bart and Lisa of course…….
Another example of a business that cannot survive without government subsidies (or, in t he case of Canada, mandates). No wonder the economy is having a hard time rebounding.
This is a more important landmark than Climategate.
TBoone isn’t dumb, to put it mildly. He knew from the start that wind power was just another name for natural gas, with the windmills supplying the subsidies and decoration and regulatory approval while the natural gas supplies the electricity. Now that he’s decided to give up the pretty pinwheels and produce only the electricity, others will follow.
In the video, Pickens says 20% of the jobs in town are wind energy jobs. New homes are being built, new schools, etc. So what happens to Sweetwater TX now? Do the jobs follow the windmills to Canada? What about the infrastructure built around the wind bubble?
For Pickens, a few billion here or there doesn’t hurt much. For the people who bought into his dream, it will.
Keep the turbines please! They are useless!
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
The Pickens plan was never about wind power. It was about water. Pickens has groundwater rights on the land where his wind turbines stand (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/4275059). Wind power was merely window dressing. And since Texas became the state with the most wind power production, electricity prices there have risen more than 50%. Green energy is NOT cheap.
We need inexpensive domestic energy. Energy independence should be the next major goal of the US. We can do it, but it will require a commitment to new nuclear technologies. We need to power a new industrial revolution to regrow the middle class. If we don’t revitalize our economy starting with energy, we either 1) fall under the shadow of China and lose our leadership position, or 2) have to fight for limited foreign energy resources and likely wind up on the losing end. We must become competitive again, and not through a low-wage workforce, but through more efficient production by innovation. We will have to change our mindset from open warfare between business management and labor to partnership for the benefit of all. We will see more jobs when businesses become more profitable and need to grow. Government can’t create jobs, but it can impead that process by keeping taxes high and over-regulating. Today, too many businesses are dependent on markets created by government regulations. Regulations also serve to limit competition. The big boys like that. Increasingly, the free market is a fiction.
Sweet Christmas present! Merry Christmas to all.
“After 30 months, countless TV appearances, and $80 million spent on an extravagant PR campaign, T. Boone Pickens has finally admitted the obvious: The wind energy business isn’t a very good one. ”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704368004576027310664695834.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
I must say that I thought his foray into wind was more expeditionary than determined investment. It seems that TBP has found that wind power, aside from niche applications, is not the electrical future the enthusiasts claim it to be.
It is one thing power a small house or a boat battery charger but when considering smelting aluminum or running a can line you are in several whole different orders of power demand. Reliability and storage are also very big issues and any storage solutions will benefit the other means of generation as well.
TBP has now had good first hand, and knowing him, detailed experience of the renewables world and his decision to walk away comes as no surprise at all. It will be very interesting to see how much he now invests in coal, gas and nuclear generation because as a corollary to getting out of wind ( and no doubt solar for the same reasons ) he must surely see the future is in steam.
This is beautiful:
“Today the Obama administration made a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization. It says China is illegally subsidizing its wind companies. ”
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/12/22/pm-major-investor-pulls-out-of-wind-power/
I thought all green jobs on the planet were by their very definition subsidized?
The blades on the mill go round round round, go round round round
The blades on the mill go round round rou?!? WTF!
But the blades on the mill don’t go round round round when:
No wind wind wind
Too cold cold cold
Too windy windy windy
No grease grease grease
No back up coal coal coal
When the blades on the mill go round round round
You get birds on the ground ground ground
When the blades on the mill don’t go round round round
It be pretty neat with nuclear heat heat heat, nuclear heat heat heat
As a fellow Texan, if you ever have the chance to shake hands with T. Boone Pickens, be sure to count your fingers afterward.
He couldn’t quite pull off the scam to rob the taxpayer, and with the GOP holding the purse strings, decided to get out before the exposure of what a fraud this energy source really is.
I could have told TBP not to invest in wind, saved him billions and I would have taken just 10% of the savings!
I hope the UK Energy Minister follows TBP’s decisions on wind. That will save the UK taxpayer billions.
I read some speculation, several years ago, that the water rights were what he was really after althougth I didn’t understand why water rights were (as opposed to access rights) an issue with wind power.
Pickens is a very bright guy, who has made his fortune exploiting the unintended consequences of Government regulations. In this case, the subsidies for putting up windmills have allowed him to acquire a lot of property and water rights, plus sell natural gas to backup the nonexistent “wind power”.
He is primarily a “vulture capitalist” who buys up firms with illiquid assets and big obligations; he closes the company, fires the workers, sells off the assets, stiffs the creditors, banks the money, and goes to the next opportunity. The Congress has just handed him a windfall in the form of the estate tax, which will allow him to work his magic on family firms whose founder dies: Treasury gets its cut, the Chinese get the machinery and intellectual property, the heirs get (maybe) a new car, and the employees and creditors get bupkis. Given that, he has no need to continue scamming “renewable energy”.