Texas oil man makes big bets on wind

[Cybergal]

Texas oil man makes big bets on wind
4/18/08

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legendary Texas oil man T. Boone Pickens has gone green with a plan to spend $10 billion to build the world's biggest wind farm. But he's not doing it out of generosity - he expects to turn a buck.
The Southern octogenarian's plans are as big as the Texas prairie, where he lives on a ranch with his horses, and entail fundamentally reworking how Americans use energy.

Next month, Pickens' company, Mesa Power, will begin buying land and ordering 2,700 wind turbines that will eventually generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity - the equivalent of building two commercial scale nuclear power plants - enough power for about 1 million homes.
"These are substantial," said Pickens, speaking to students at Georgetown University on Thursday. "They're big."
More at YAHOO

[Skunk_Truck_2590]

That's a really great idea. Although for the wrong reason, but still a very good idea. His wind farm will produce what two nuclear power plants can. Wow. They need to take those thing's out of service anyway. That's just a scary thought all together.

[W5IT]

Originally Posted by Skunk_Truck_2590

His wind farm will produce what two nuclear power plants can. Wow. They need to take those thing's out of service anyway. That's just a scary thought all together.

Well for the time being a Nuclear plant is one of the most cost effective producers of electricity.

It will take several years before the "Wind power" proves to be dependable. On top of that the land required to build "Wind farms" also is a factor.

[gearjammer-2000]

nuke plants are here to stay and the sooner everyone realizes that and they are built and come online, the sooner all energy prices become something we can afford

[pvwowk]

Nuke plants are very safe. Also, since the fuel costs are negligible, they are the most profitable to run over the longer term. This is why the nuclear plants in the USA are running very close to capacity...

However, they are difficult to build and do have a high capitol cost (about as expensive as wind) compared to a coal or natural gas power plant...

[animal control]

It has been something like 20 years scince another nuclear power (100+ in current operation) generator ,or even a refinery has been constructed here in the good ole U.S.A.

This wind and solar power thing stole the show,and is currently very popular.

Scary as it sounds,facts is my money is (currently loosing) in USU.Uranium enrichment for 2012.

Bottem line is : Evervyting is either Mined or Grown!!

If you got a copy on That,Is odvious wind & solar,are NOT viable.

But Proffitable?,IS another Thing---10-4

IN-Rich Enrich !

[Muleskinner]

Originally Posted by pvwowk

Nuke plants are very safe. Also, since the fuel costs are negligible, they are the most profitable to run over the longer term. This is why the nuclear plants in the USA are running very close to capacity...

However, they are difficult to build and do have a high capitol cost (about as expensive as wind) compared to a coal or natural gas power plant...

Actually they are NOT as difficult to build as a coal fired (NG plants are usually small output)....You eliminate coal handling which is a major cost with the conveyors,scales,crushers ,storage yard etc etc.

I've worked on a Nuke,several coal fired plants,two hydros and one wind turbine station in Ia as a Millwright/welder and that's what my dad did from '65 till '96 and the only thing I can say is that I'd rather live with 10 coal fired plants,100 hydros and a thousand wind turbines in my county than one nuke in my state.

I also dont know where you are getting your facts on the cost of wind turbine construction versus coal fired construction costs.You are so far off base that its really not worth discussing.

Wind and Hydro are the only two safe ways to generate power and wind has almost no impact on the land other than stringing the line which is almost 0.

[pvwowk]

Originally Posted by Muleskinner

Actually they are NOT as difficult to build as a coal fired (NG plants are usually small output)....You eliminate coal handling which is a major cost with the conveyors,scales,crushers ,storage yard etc etc.

That makes perfect sense... You're not contradicting me. However, historical costs of nuclear have been higher (probably more overhead for safety and such...)

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[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

When I say nuclear is close to wind, I'm just looking at the overnight cost vs. capacity. Reading the article above, it says 10 billion for 4 Gw capacity, that's $2500/kw capacity. Nuclear is close.

However, that number is misleading because the wind doesn't blow all the time, so overnight cost for nuclear is less.

Originally Posted by Muleskinner

I've worked on a Nuke,several coal fired plants,two hydros and one wind turbine station in Ia as a Millwright/welder and that's what my dad did from '65 till '96 and the only thing I can say is that I'd rather live with 10 coal fired plants,100 hydros and a thousand wind turbines in my county than one nuke in my state.

10 coal fired plants in your county? Thats your opinion and I don't share it... With 10 coal fired power plants, your county might look like this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:B...ugust_2005.png

Originally Posted by Muleskinner

I also dont know where you are getting your facts on the cost of wind turbine construction versus coal fired construction costs.You are so far off base that its really not worth discussing.

There is no argument there. (When did I say wind/renewables were cheaper??? maybe you should read a little more carefully...)

Originally Posted by Muleskinner

Wind and Hydro are the only two safe ways to generate power and wind has almost no impact on the land other than stringing the line which is almost 0.

Yes, but they are still expensive. Coal plants usually pay for themselves in 2-3 years. The above wind farm will pay for itself in 5-10 years...

[Muleskinner]

Most of my dispute with your post is the safety issue....That's why I mentioned what all I'd rather live with than 1 nuke.I'm well aware of the pollution issue with coal fired ANYTHING..Just go to Granite City,IL and you can see that for yourself what nasty looks like..My old man worked on nearly every nuke in the country over time from Hanford on out and believe me,they have small emergencies SEVERAL times a month that you'll never hear about and all it takes is a series of events to be a world shaking event that will be talked about and analyzed for decades.

Since the Reagan era when funding started being stripped for regulatory agencies, its only gotten worse as far as public safety is concerned.Count into the costs the safe storage of spent rods and fuel that will have to be contained forever and a day and see what your overall cost per Kw is.Bet it changes vastly.The long term best bet is still hydro and wind.I don't want to put my safety or yours at the hands of greedy power companies because trust me,you and I will lose in the long run.

I noticed the slime goblin (Cheney)was on the news a couple of days ago promoting nuke power too.The Carlyle Group must be investing in it now I guess.

[TrooperRat]

I live about 75 miles east of the largest nuke plant in the nation. I've been to the plant making deliveries as well. I don't like going into that place, I don't like being anywhere near it, and even at 75 miles away, it's still too close. If they're going to build the things, make them build them out in the middle of useless waste tundra land so if the things melts down and starts spewing radiation all over the place, millions of people aren't going to end up dead in the end.
Heck, just getting into the place is an event in itself. They have a building that must be 50 feet tall, at least, you drive your semi in there and park it. They open the hood, they take mirrors underneath and swipe your steering wheel with some bomb identifying powder. There are armed (HEAVILY armed) what appears to be military guys standing up on a platform, with military assault weapons and even more of them on the floor.
Then you drive into the place - an eery feeling for me - I dread the place and am glad that I switched stores in my company so that I don't have to go in there anymore.
Whatever motives the rich guy has - he's got an idea that has great merit to it - if he can find land that has enough wind blowing all the time to keep those turbines/blades turning. That collection of wind generators in California off of I-10 is a pretty amazing sight as well...