The Win-Win-Win of Wind

When T. Boone Pickens, oil tycoon and 1980's takeover magnate, is doing wind farms, you know the world has changed.

According to a recent New York Times article, Mr. Pickens "is planning to build the biggest wind farm in the world, a $10 billion behemoth that could power a small city."

Hence the first "win" in wind power -- profits for producers. "I have the same feelings about wind...as I had about the best oil field I ever found," says Pickens.

According to the article, "Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines...Texans are even turning tapped-out oil fields into wind farms...not just because it is windy. It also has sparsely populated land for wind farms, fast-growing cities and a friendly regulatory environment for developers."

As wind power now supplies about 1 percent of American electricity, powering the equivalent of 4.5 million homes, according to the article, estimates of the future impact of wind power are between 5 and 20 percent of this country's electricity supply.

"I like wind because it's renewable and it's clean...," says Pickens, which represents the second "win" -- a clean, sustainable, alternative energy source.

Will the wind mills be on his own ranch? In a recent interview in Fast Company, he replied, "I'm not going to have the windmills on my ranch. They're ugly. The hub of each turbine is up 280 feet, and then you have a 120-foot radius on the blade. It's the size of a 40-story building...[it will be on] my neighbors' [land], mainly south of my ranch. They'll get royalties of 4% to 7% on the energy produced, an average per turbine of $10,000 to $20,000 per year. They still can run cattle or farm on the land with the turbines there too. We'll put in only five per square mile. And unlike oil, this is not a declining situation. Let's say a guy has a 3 megawatt turbine, and it does $20,000 per year. It's going to be out there for, say, 100 years. You're talking about $2 million. It's not like having an oil well that's a real pisser for a few years, and then it starts to decline."

That's the third "win" -- improving the sustainability of the ranches and farms on which the wind mills are placed.

Carla E. Dearing