Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Pickens delays wind farm on finance, grid issues (No "Green Jobs" this year)
Reuters ^ | 07/08/09 | Ayesha Rascoe and Eileen O'Grady

Posted on 07/11/2009 11:36:36 AM PDT by AKSurprise

Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens said on Wednesday he has delayed his plan to build the world's largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle, blaming financing problems and transmission limitations.

"I didn't cancel it," Pickens said after a press conference on Capitol Hill. "Financing is tough right now and so it's going to be delayed a year or two."

"I had hoped that Pampa would be the starting point, but transmission issues and the problem with the capital markets make that unfeasible at this point," Pickens said in a statement. "I expect to continue development of the Pampa project, but not at the pace that I originally expected."

Pickens said he did not think the postponed project is a setback for the wind industry because all sectors are having trouble finding financial backers in this economic climate.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: goracle; greenjobs; pickens; windfarms
Green jobs FAIL AGAIN. They are a mirage, just as are hopes for an economic recovery under the tax & spend regime of Obama...
1 posted on 07/11/2009 11:36:36 AM PDT by AKSurprise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

Waiting for the Crap and Trade dough to start flowing.


2 posted on 07/11/2009 11:38:59 AM PDT by Huskrrrr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

I think Pickens realizes that the Cap and Trade, err Tax, Bill will either be shelved or eventually voted down if its current form does not change substantially.

The Cap and Tax would have provided financing for such projects along with funds for connecting such projects to a/the grid(s).


3 posted on 07/11/2009 11:44:43 AM PDT by cranked
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

Pickens deviated from the tried and tested paradigm of fiscally sound business plans to yield a profit, and instead dabbled in feelgood hippy dreams and got burned.


4 posted on 07/11/2009 11:45:13 AM PDT by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

“..blaming financing problems ...”

Meaning he couldn’t get the politicians to pony-up enough tax-payer money to build it for him.


5 posted on 07/11/2009 11:58:17 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

There is a lot of environmental opposition to these supposed “Green” projects

Pressure to build transmission lines imperils farmland

AgAlert

Issue Date: December 10, 2008

By Christine Souza
Assistant Editor

An increased demand for electricity and renewable energy has resulted in a number of utility-proposed transmission line projects being considered throughout the state. While farmers and ranchers appreciate the need for improving the electric grid, they worry that some of the transmission projects could treat farmland as a thruway and unnecessarily remove prime land from production.

“The pressure is on to ensure that the state’s transmission infrastructure is in place. We are tracking a number of transmission line projects being proposed statewide and we urge that the utilities listen to the landowners,” said Karen Norene Mills, California Farm Bureau Federation associate counsel and Public Utilities Department director. “If the line is truly needed, we encourage that its development is done in such a way that results in the least harm to farmers and ranchers.”

http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1191&ck=B20BB95AB626D93FD976AF958FBC61BA


6 posted on 07/11/2009 12:08:39 PM PDT by artichokegrower
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

Transmission issues are always going to be a problem with wind. People don’t tend to live in large numbers where the wind blows enough to generate electricity.


7 posted on 07/11/2009 12:09:01 PM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar
...Hippy dreams are can I make a profit, And not let on that I'm in business, to make money. Get rich, don't have to work, can pursuit my dreams, run for political office, on and on...

...The rest of US that work, aren't going to get that shot. don't want that notoriety, work every day till we die...

...I'm OK with that, but the government is going to put restrictions that won't even look out for me...

8 posted on 07/11/2009 12:43:58 PM PDT by gargoyle (...Debate is healthy, silence is a waste of time...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: gargoyle
Stan: So it seems like we have enough people now. When do we start taking down the corporations?

Hippie (takes a drag on his joint): Yeah man, the corporations. Right now they're raping the world for money!

Kyle: Yeah, so, where are they? Let's go get 'em.

Hippie: Right now we're proving we don't need corporations. We don't need money. This can become a commune where everyone just helps each other.

Hippie: Yeah, we'll have one guy who like, who like, makes bread. A-and one guy who like, looks out for other people's safety.

Stan: You mean like a baker and a cop?

Hippie: No no, can't you imagine a place where people live together and like, provide services for each other in exchange for their services?

Kyle: Yeah, it's called a town.


9 posted on 07/11/2009 12:54:24 PM PDT by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise
Financing is tough right now and so it's going to be delayed a year or two."

Come on, with all the profits expected from these wind farms investors should be tripping over themselves to back this.

I firmly believe that if there were any money to be made in "green jobs" we wouldn't need crippling government subsidies for this.

10 posted on 07/11/2009 1:13:12 PM PDT by RedStateGuyTrappedinCT (I'm one of the undecided. Is BamBam more corrupt than Clinton or more incompetent than Carter?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

Pickens delays wind farm on finance, grid issues (No “Green Jobs” this year)

Or next year or the year after.
With ZERO leadership from the White House, unemployment will continue to rise.


11 posted on 07/11/2009 1:14:24 PM PDT by SECURE AMERICA (Coming to You From the Front Lines of Occupied America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

How big would the wind farm be? Hundreds, maybe thousands of acres I am sure. And how big would a modern mini nuke plant producing the same amount of power be? Maybe the size of a double wide?


12 posted on 07/11/2009 1:20:24 PM PDT by yawningotter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RedStateGuyTrappedinCT; All
Green dole

The report is produced by economics professor Juan Carlos of the University of Madrid, who has found that for every green job "created" by the Spanish government, an average of 2.2 other jobs have been destroyed. And, of those fabulous green jobs, only 1 in 10 was permanent.

"Spain’s experience cited by President Obama as a model reveals with high confidence, by two different methods, that the US should expect a loss of at least 2.2 jobs on average, or about 9 jobs lost for every 4 created," writes professor Gabriel Calzada in an introduction to the study.

"The study's results demonstrate how such 'green jobs' policy clearly hinders Spain's way out of the current economic crisis, even while US politicians insist that rushing into such a scheme will ease their own emergence from the turmoil," Calzada writes.

13 posted on 07/11/2009 1:27:27 PM PDT by AKSurprise ("All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

Oh, .....wind farms DON’t have a future after all. If it’s such a winner, maybe Buffet will invest-———NOT.


14 posted on 07/11/2009 2:15:23 PM PDT by cookcounty (He who controls the Language controls the Debate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise

i hope he goes bankrupt and never puts up one windmill!


15 posted on 07/11/2009 2:16:31 PM PDT by dalereed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AKSurprise
Isn't Pickens a billionaire himself? Why is he relying on other people's money instead of ponying up his own cash now, and then inviting outside investors at a later date when the wind farm is up and running (no construction risk).

With a solid off-taker, banks would lend him around 50% of the costs as well.

Sounds like he's full of hot air himself.

16 posted on 07/11/2009 2:16:45 PM PDT by DTogo (High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dalereed
i hope he goes bankrupt and never puts up one windmill!

T Bone is busy building up the Okie State football team.

17 posted on 07/11/2009 2:58:07 PM PDT by Ole Okie (American)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

...(((, Right on! If not enough folks for a town, a community, sort of like a commune, everyone in the neighborhood looking out for their neighbors. No governance organized yet. What you do behind your doors is not my business, as long as you do it to yourself, or with consenting partners. The Constitution and Rule of Law is important to me, to a point. If I have some friends over in my house, and I say “Don’t bogart that joint my friend, pass it over to me”, I’d not want DEA breaking my front door down to arrest me for violating Federal laws, they’ve made too many, and made us criminals of things we don’t know about...


18 posted on 07/11/2009 7:21:04 PM PDT by gargoyle (...Debate is healthy, silence is a waste of time...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: cookcounty

...I breed gerbils to feed my reptiles. While they’re waiting to get eat, I have them running on wheels, providing wind fans to cool me off, and selling power back to the federal government for credit. It’s not payment for carbon; hot air, back to them, which is all they’ve spewed out as of late...


19 posted on 07/11/2009 7:48:42 PM PDT by gargoyle (...Debate is healthy, silence is a waste of time...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson