Pickens Wants To Build World's Largest Wind Farm

[RedEarth]

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) _ (B) Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is planning to cash in on the wind energy boom by building the world's largest wind farm in West Texas. The oil tycoon is offering a $6 billion plan to install large wind turbines in parts of four Panhandle counties.

Pickens spokesman Mike Boswell today said the Mesa Power project would produce up to four-thousand megawatts of electricity. Experts say the facility would generate more than five times the 735 megawatts produced at the present largest wind farm near Abilene.

Boswell says construction of the Pickens project would begin in 2010 and involve as many as 200-thousand acres in Roberts, Gray, Hemphill and Wheeler counties. The farm would have as many as two-thousand wind turbines.

Pickens met yesterday in Pampa with about 250 area landowners

http://www.kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=129423

[BushOut06]

1. Aren't wind farms bad for birds?

I've heard that wind farms have tremendous impacts on local bird populations, and upon migratory birds. Surely there must be better ways to produce clean energy.

[Berry Cool]

2. Actually, they don't.

The effect on bird populations has not proven to be as strong as was once feared. Believe it or not, cats kill more birds. Bats are believed to be more at risk.

Here's some reading on the subject:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/04/MNG9SPKPT31.DTL

It should be noted that raptors seem to tend to cruise higher than the turbines, so may not be at as much risk as originally thought, as well.

[whistle]

3. Any speculation on the noise level that would be created by 2000

...gigantic wind turbines distributed over 200,000 acres of land of the size necessary to produce over 3,675 to 4,000 megawatts? Most studies of wind power put noise as a major drawback.

<see link> http://www.ceere.org/rerl/publications/whitepapers/Wind_Turbine_Acoustic_Noise_Rev2006.pdf