berkshire
New member
- Jun 8, 2005
- 4,429
T. Boone Pickens is abandoning wind energy for natural gas, writes Robert Bryce: "Two years ago, natural gas prices were spiking and Mr. Pickens figured they'd stay high. He placed a $2 billion order for wind turbines with General Electric. Shortly afterward, he began selling the Pickens Plan. The United States, he claimed, is 'the Saudi Arabia of wind,' and wind energy is an essential part of the cure for the curse of imported oil...Alas, market forces ruined the Pickens Plan. Mr. Pickens should have shorted wind. Instead, he went long and now he's stuck holding a slew of turbines he can't use because low natural gas prices have made wind energy uneconomic in the U.S., despite federal subsidies that amount to $6.44 for every 1 million British thermal units (BTUs) produced by wind turbines."