Plans for a 4000 Megawatt (MW) wind energy project in Texas have been stalled due to difficult market conditions, high grid costs and the downturn in gas prices according to the Washington Post today.
T. Boone Pickens said that the plans for the $12 billion wind farm have been put on hold temporarily while expensive grid upgrades are put in place by the State. Pickens’ company, Mesa Power LP had planned to start construction next year but now have a spare 667 GE wind turbines to find a home for. Boone told reporters “my garage won’t hold them“. Likely candidate sites are reported as being in Canada or the Midwest – presumably where there is grid availability.
The Texas oil billionaire said “It doesn’t mean that wind is dead… It just means we got a little bit too quick off the blocks.”
The wind energy and solar sectors are the fastest growing renewable energy sectors in the U.S. with the country taking over as the leading wind energy provider in 2008.
