Texas oil tycoon aims to harness power of the wind

Ed Pilkington, Dallas
April 19, 2008

T. BOONE Pickens is famous for thinking big. He founded his Texan oil company, Mesa Petroleum, in 1956 with just $2500 in the bank. Today he is worth $US3 billion ($A3.2 billion).

Now this straight-talking Southerner is launching the most audacious project of his career. This month he will make the first down payment on 500 wind turbines at a cost of $US2 million each. It is the first material step towards his goal of building the world's largest wind farm.

Over the next four years he intends to erect 2700 turbines across 80,940 hectares of the Texan panhandle. The scheme is five times bigger than the world's current record-holding wind farm and when finished will supply 4000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 1 million homes.

The fact that Mr Pickens, a tycoon who made his fortune in oil, has turned his attention to wind power is an indication of how the tectonic plates are moving. Until recently wind was seen as marginal and alternative; now it is being eyed by Wall Street.

"Don't get the idea that I've turned green," Mr Pickens said in the Dallas offices of his new venture, Mesa Power. "My business is making money, and I think this is going to make a lot of money."

His fascination with wind developed as Mr Pickens hunted quail on his 27,520-hectare ranch in the panhandle. The idea formed that this area of Texas, with its wide-open space, low population and steady south-westerlies, would be perfect for wind-generated energy.

Studies proved him right. He set about persuading neighbouring ranchers to join his scheme, promising them between $US10,000 and $US20,000 in annual royalties for every turbine on their land. They have all signed up.

To see exactly what the promise is, you have to drive four hours west of Dallas into the Texas plains. Until a couple of years ago, Sweetwater was a gently declining railroad town; now it is a 21st-century equivalent of the Wild West. The three largest wind farms in America are in the surrounding area, Nolan county, which produces more wind power than Britain, France and California.

Sweetwater is in the midst of a construction explosion. Two companies have just opened, one servicing the blades of the 2000 turbines, another renting out cranes used in erecting new turbines. The turbines span out for 240 kilometres in any direction.

Mr Pickens believes there are several reasons to invest in this new energy source. Beyond the mere profit motive, there is the fact that Texan oil has been on the wane since it peaked at 10 million barrels a day in 1973.

There is also a political edge: "The biggest problem facing the United States in the next 50 years is energy and nobody has come up with a solution," he said.

Mr Pickens has come up with one. He draws his scheme on a white board, carving out a huge corridor of land running north to south through the middle of the US where he would build an army of wind farms. Then he draws an equally enormous corridor running from Texas to southern California, which he would dedicate to solar energy.

"You need a giant plan for America. It's going to take years to do, but it has to start now."