What can we take from Pickens?
Well, I am gonna give it a go. One of the major factors that Pickens mentioned during his announcement to suspend operations on his mega-wind farm was the lowering cost of natural gas. The issue here is intermittency. Wind power by its very nature is a rather inconsistent energy source. Naturally, there will be periods of low wind (even in areas such as the Texas Panhandle that are wide open).
Natural gas on the other hand will always be consistent in its ability to produce energy. If you have the gas, you have the energy, wind is not as sure a bet.
The other issue I gathered from Pickens was the construction of transmission lines. I am hardly an expert in this field, but it obviously costs time and money to get the transmission lines connected to a larger energy grid to dispense the electricity produced by wind turbines. In fact, it seems that transmission lines can take a lot more time than I realized to create.. in the case of the Texas Panhandle, possibly years.
So, is the decision by Pickens to create smaller wind farms versus his original vision a bad thing for the wind energy industry? IMO, definitely not.
Ultimately, wind energy is not predicated upon market conditions and fluctuating costs of oil barrels and gas. There will ALWAYS be wind and while it costs initial money to harness its power and maintain the running capabilities of wind turbines, it is essentially free. The future growth of wind turbines and wind farms is imminent. Pickens chose an avenue he felt was more economically feasible to suit his own personal agenda, not necessarily what might best benefit the environment and the long term goals of the country.
Intermittency will gradually become less of an issue as more diverse wind farms are constructed and the transmission lines gain the electric power from a multitude of wind turbines versus a single wind farm that is largely subject to very similar wind conditions.
This is all IMHO of course.. I just wanted to provide a little commentary on this bit of news today as T. Boone Pickens is obviously a well respected figure in the energy industry. I am sure this information will catch the attention of many people, I just don't feel it will have long term negative effects on the long term growth of wind energy as a whole.
ALSO, if you are looking for two great alternative energy plays that both correlate to Pickens plan to focus more on domestic energy harvesting.. look into MGLG (Magellan Energy) and SYNJ (Syndication) as each of these companies have some very interesting prospects for success and are at affordable prices (in the sub-penny range).
GLTA!
