WASHINGTON - Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens asked Congress on Tuesday to "clear the path" for his plan to boost use of wind and natural gas for U.S. energy needs.
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Pickens, an Oklahoma native, has been on a $58 million publicity tour to promote his plan to erect wind turbines in the Midwest to generate electricity, replacing the 22 percent of U.S. power produced from natural gas. The freed up natural gas then could be used for transportation.
Testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Pickens said the government should begin building transmission lines for wind-generated power or provide the right of way on private land and extend tax credits so the private sector can build the lines.
"If the government wanted to build a grid, I mean, do it," he said. "But if they don't want to do it, I think the money is there to do it private, and so it's kind of like either do it or get out of the way, but give us the corridors to put it in and it'll be done. You could do this on a very, very fast track if you wanted."
Pickens suggested that Congress follow the lead of former President Eisenhower, who declared an emergency to build the interstate highway system in the 1950s and 1960s.
He warned that oil could cost $300 a barrel in 10 years as supplies drop, if the nation continues to "drift" on energy policy.
Pickens has leased hundreds of thousands of acres for a giant wind farm in West Texas, where he plans to erect 2,700 turbines and produce energy for urban areas such as Dallas and Fort Worth. He has run into some opposition from West Texas landowners who are unhappy with his efforts to obtain rights of way to build the wind farm and a pipeline for a separate water project.
Specifically, Pickens asked Congress to extend a 2005 law intended to speed up the creation of energy corridors, and to give him control over any transmission lines he builds for wind-generated power. All electric transmission lines are now regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Pickens also called for a 10-year extension of a tax credit for energy producers. He estimated it would cost taxpayers $15 billion a year in production tax credits for 200,000 megawatts of wind power.
"When you look at $700 billion dollars going out of country every year for purchase of oil, $15 billion is somewhat insignificant," he said.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., called Pickens' plan bold and said he hoped Pickens' testimony would "infect people in a position in Washington to do something about it."
But the oilman's plan raised questions with Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who asked if it would hurt the chemical industry, which relies on natural gas as raw material. He said the industry probably won't like seeing natural gas costs increase.
Pickens estimated it would cost about $500 billion to increase wind energy production from the 4,000 megawatts to be generated at his Texas wind farm to 200,000 megawatts, the amount needed to power 20 percent of U.S. energy needs. Transmission lines and the tax credit would add another $15 billion.
At that level, he said, "You're approaching about one year's supply of oil that you're buying. But don't get the idea that replaces that oil, it doesn't. It will only replace 38 percent."
In addition to the hearing, Pickens also met privately Tuesday with Democratic and Republican members of Congress as well as Texas senators.
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The wind is intermittent and variable. The laws of physics dictate
that the energy output of a wind turbine is proportional to the cube of
the wind speed. This means a wind turbine designed for 35 mph wind will
only generate 2.33% of its rated output in a 10 mph wind. The turbine
blades will continue to turn, but it will be putting out almost no
power. Wind farms create huge problems when connected to an electrical
grid if they make up more than about 5% of total grid production.
Demark has the highest percentage of wind-generating electrical
capacity, about 10%. They give wind-generated electricity to other
countries for free when the wind is blowing strongly and when the wind
dies down; they rely on conventional power plants. Backing up every
wind farm there has to be a "spinning reserve", a conventional power
plant up-and-running to provide electricity, when the wind dies. So,
despite building a large number of wind farms, Demark has not shut down
any of its conventional power plants.
It is not unusual for a high-pressure weather system to settle in over
practically the entire US Northeast, which means little or no wind for
days.
To prevent large scale black-outs, wind energy could be transmitted from
the West, if the wind were blowing there, but that would entail building
a huge masses of transmission lines across the country.
Environmentalists and liberal politicians like wind turbines because
they are attractive, which is why they grace many environmentalist
publications and websites, but the masses of high-tension power lines
they would require to be bulldozed across America are not pretty. Wind
power will probably never be able to provide more than 5% of our
electricity and 2% of our total energy needs. Does B. Pickens really want to get “imminent domain” rights for the mineral rights? For example see artticle, “KINGFISHER — Landowners along a proposed 120-mile Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. power line should join together to oppose the line, a Woodward landowner said at a meeting Tuesday.”
The person who wrote this article needs to learn the
difference between "West Texas" and the "Texas Panhandle". The wind generators will be around Pampa. (good ole Boone):-(
He's got more $$$ than brains. Wind power is not the answer, you can't transmit power from wind farms hundreds of miles. Bob in Wellston is right - the oil crunch has nothing to do with generating electricity. Maybe if people would do their homework first.
Bob, there is a very, very small amount of electricity generated by JP-1. New York City has 200 megawatts of standby capacity they turn on during heat waves. It consists of 10, 20 megawatt turbine operated generators. Our fine former governor Howdy Doody, a.k.a. Walters sells them at his business.
Texans in the panhandle are just giddy with excitement. They are looking forward to all the imminent domain filings for the new transmission lines to crisscross the pastures and farms. It in effect will be like Eisenhower's US autoban plans where the power of the highway department was absolute and final. It basically went like the first scene in Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy where bull dozers at your front door is the first notice you receive from the construction crews. I know of a land owner in Edmond where I-35 came through where the surveyors went in and put up markers right through their land then started clearing it before any letters were sent. They had to have a clear line of sight for the transits. Then the price offered for land was final and not negotiable.
Exactly how much electrical power is generated by burning oil? I believe that amount to be NONE.
Build nuclear plants and redesign the electrical infrastructure of the US. It is a hodgepodge of disaster.
This is great that someone is taking the initiative to lay out a plan such as this, BUT this will be bad news for the consumers. By side stepping FERC and allowing an individual to control the power lines WILL increase the price of electricity by allowing that individual or company to charge whatever they want to transmit the power and by deciding how much power they are going to provide. Does the California Energy Crisis or Enron ring a bell? This is the same idea and principle. T. Boone is moving from the oil business to the energy business just as Enron did. If the safe guards are there, than this can be a good thing, but if the government relinquishes control, there will be problems.
I think this is great and coming from an oilman should be praised. I guess though there will always be people like John of Norman whom doesn't have a solution himself but will find fault with anyone willing to come up with something. I hope Washington will listen.
Yeh,John, now we need to let the bloggers weigh in. Forget what the experienced and knowlegable have to say. As Bart Simpson says, "You know if it's on the internet, it has got to be true.
I think Pickens' plan is a great start to reducing our dependency on foreign oil as well as a step to create alternative energy that is environmentally friendly and a step to creating jobs. I agree with his position of if the gov't won't do it then let private business do it. Even if private businesses area llowed the gov't can still regulate it as they do with many areas regarding energy transmission. Oh yeah, and all this praise is coming from an OU fan. ;)
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that the energy output of a wind turbine is proportional to the cube of
the wind speed. This means a wind turbine designed for 35 mph wind will
only generate 2.33% of its rated output in a 10 mph wind. The turbine
blades will continue to turn, but it will be putting out almost no
power. Wind farms create huge problems when connected to an electrical
grid if they make up more than about 5% of total grid production.
Demark has the highest percentage of wind-generating electrical
capacity, about 10%. They give wind-generated electricity to other
countries for free when the wind is blowing strongly and when the wind
dies down; they rely on conventional power plants. Backing up every
wind farm there has to be a "spinning reserve", a conventional power
plant up-and-running to provide electricity, when the wind dies. So,
despite building a large number of wind farms, Demark has not shut down
any of its conventional power plants.
It is not unusual for a high-pressure weather system to settle in over
practically the entire US Northeast, which means little or no wind for
days.
To prevent large scale black-outs, wind energy could be transmitted from
the West, if the wind were blowing there, but that would entail building
a huge masses of transmission lines across the country.
Environmentalists and liberal politicians like wind turbines because
they are attractive, which is why they grace many environmentalist
publications and websites, but the masses of high-tension power lines
they would require to be bulldozed across America are not pretty. Wind
power will probably never be able to provide more than 5% of our
electricity and 2% of our total energy needs. Does B. Pickens really want to get “imminent domain” rights for the mineral rights? For example see artticle, “KINGFISHER — Landowners along a proposed 120-mile Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. power line should join together to oppose the line, a Woodward landowner said at a meeting Tuesday.”
wind generators on his ranch".
difference between "West Texas" and the "Texas Panhandle". The wind generators will be around Pampa. (good ole Boone):-(
Build nuclear plants and redesign the electrical infrastructure of the US. It is a hodgepodge of disaster.