Zillionaire investing billions in wind’s hurricane-force potential
Zillionaire T. Boone Pickens has big ideas on how wind turbines can reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and he is backing those ideas with a massive investment in wind farms. The 4,000 megawatt wind farm he is building in northern Texas will eventually produce enough power for 1.3 million homes. When completed, that power will be shipped over transmission lines operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas system downstate to customers. Pickens says the area stretching from Texas to the Canadian border is the “best wind corridor” in the world and that if cultivated properly could provide for up to 20 percent of U.S. energy needs and help make the United States less dependant on foreign oil. Pickins says the United States now imports 70 percent of all its oil, up from 24 percent in 1970.
Quanta Services working on 30 renewable energy projects
Quanta Services (PWR), Houston, is quite possibly the country’s biggest builder of electrical infrastructure, and a zillionaire oilman-turned-wind zealot (see article above) is adding thousands of megawatts of wind power in its backyard. Investor’s Business Daily has been watching Quanta closely and recently published an interesting article on the company, which through mid-year was working on 30 renewable energy projects, including a solar energy plant that it completed at the Denver International Airport just in time for the Democratic National Convention. The nine-acre system is projected to provide 40 percent of the power supply required to run the airport and save the airport an estimated $13 million over the next 20 years. Quanta provided site preparation and installation services for the more than 9,000 panels required for the system.