Natural Gas Tilts at Windmills in Power Feud

[NickB79]

http://peaknewsroom.blogspot.com/2010/03/natural-gas-tilts-at-windmills-in-power.html

"TAFT, Texas—Wind power was a bit player in Texas as recently as four years ago. Today, wind turbines produce a significant share of the state's electricity.

But the growth of wind power has attracted powerful critics: the owners of natural-gas power plants.

Many environmental groups talk of how wind and relatively clean-burning natural gas can partner to displace dirtier coal, creating a path to power the U.S. while releasing fewer greenhouse gases. A bitter fuel fight in Texas points to a different future: one in which gas and wind are foes.

The gas and wind factions have been clashing over the state's operating rules for the past several months. The gas people say the playing field is tilted in wind's favor; wind accuses gas of trying to snuff out the nascent wind energy sector."


Looks like the honeymoon may be over....

[Dogmudgeon]

1. It was one bed-shaking honeymoon, too.

And Swift-Boater T. Boone Pickens was the matchmaker. Perhaps this explains, in part, why TBP funded the Swifties so well: John Kerry has long been a supporter of nuclear energy, which is the only viable competition to natural gas.

http://www.awea.org/news/news030618gas.html">Wind Energy Can Relieve Natural Gas Shortage (2003 Jun 18)

http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/">Pickens Plan

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/pickens-plan-putters-out-cheap-natural-gas-lack-of-transmission-pull-plug.php">Pickens Plan Putters Out - Cheap Natural Gas + Lack of Transmission Pull Pampa's Plug (2010 Jan 10)

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/08/18/wind-and-natural-gas-frenemies-forever/tab/article/">Wind and Natural Gas: Frenemies Forever (2009 Aug 18)

Of course, Pickens actions aren't so narrowly cast. Putting wind turbines in ads is great for business, and cultivates the affluent, educated and liberal demographics Pickens has had so much trouble with.

--d!

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Odd, Pickens still seems to be promoting wind

http://www.pickensplan.com/wind/

...

While many industries have been cutting back on their workforce, about 85,000 people are employed in the wind industry today, up from 50,000 a year ago, holding jobs in areas as varied as turbine component manufacturing, construction and installation of wind turbines, wind turbine operations and maintenance, as well as legal and marketing services.

Additionally, the land on which the wind turbines are located are rented from the ranchers and farmers who own it. Much like a natural gas or oil well, the landowner shares in the money generated by the sale of the electricity, thus further adding to the economic well-being of the community in which the wind farm is located.

Wind is a reliable source of electrical energy around the world. In Europe, Denmark receives over 20 percent of its electricity from wind energy, and in 2008 Germany received over 7 percent of its electricity from the wind. Spain had periods in 2008 when wind energy provided over 40 percent of its electricity. In the U.S., Minnesota and Iowa both get over 7 percent of their electricity from wind energy.

...

Wind power generates no emissions, and displaces carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that would otherwise be emitted by fossil fuel-fired electric generation. The clean generation provided by wind capacity installed through 2008 will displace approximately 44 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. One megawatt-hour (MWh) of wind energy produced reduces CO2 emissions by roughly 1,200 pounds. A single 1.67-MW turbine produces over 5,000 MWh of electricity, and so each turbine reduces CO2 emissions by over 3,000 tons.

Am I missing something?

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Pickens has cooled markedly on wind this winter

The Pickens Plan appears to be a grass roots lobbying effort that has much less grass roots than lobbying.

Here's an article that explains Pickens' change in attitude:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/business/energy-environment/14boone.html">Forget Wind. Pickens Turns Focus to Gas.

I'm sure other business and energy journalists have also weighed in. If you want to continue this topic in other posts as well, I'll be happy to contribute. But gas usually gets little attention here.

I don't think there will be much actual movement on this until the economy recovers, but then, it could be like the oil/coal boom in the late 1970s. That one killed off solar, wind, tidal AND nuclear development. And unlike oil and coal, natural gas will be hyped as "clean", even though it produces fully half the CO2 as coal, and its uncombusted form -- methane -- is a potent greenhouse gas itself.

If Boone and his pals can "debunk" global warming in the next three to five years, it's gonna be gas.

--d!

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Hmmm

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100304-720144.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

MARCH 4, 2010, 9:07 P.M. ET

Pickens To Develop 500 MW Of Wind Power

By Cassandra Sweet
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

SANTA BARBARA (Dow Jones)--Energy investor T. Boone Pickens said Thursday he is putting together deals to develop 500 megawatts of U.S. wind power with turbines made by General Electric Co. (GE), and will make a formal announcement in 30 days.

Pickens, who is chairman of hedge fund BP Capital Management, wouldn't say where the wind farms would be located, but he said they wouldn't be in the Texas Panhandle, despite its strong wind resources, because of a lack of transmission capacity. The facilities will be developed using 324 wind turbines made by GE.

"We'll be installing turbines this year," Pickens said, speaking at the Wall Street Journal's Eco:nomics conference in Santa Barbara. He noted that the project will be half its initial size, and had to be scaled back due to low natural gas prices that have driven down power prices and put pressure on renewable energy projects.

Wind power is profitable when natural gas prices are about $7 a million British thermal units, Pickens said. By contrast, gas in New York was recently trading for $4.58. Pickens said he is still committed to developing wind power, despite the current market difficulties.

...

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Okay, you win

I don't think this is much more than greenwash (and perhaps some capital/tax advantages) for Pickens, but every kilowatt of wind-generated electricity helps.

Still, I find the overall situation with gas -- the discovery of huge amounts of Paleozoic shale gas, worldwide -- to be bad news.

--d!

[bananas]

6. John Kerry: nuclear energy is not "the vision of the future", a short term solution at best

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/12/813476/-Climate-Change-Reality:-The-Senate-Debate

Climate Change Reality: The Senate Debate
by John Kerry
Sat Dec 12, 2009 at 08:30:25 AM PST

<snip>

9. We’re not going to have a perfect bill. I wish we could. But like Ted Kennedy taught us, you fight for the ideal but you keep your eye on the prize to get progress any way, anyhow. Yes, the road to 60 votes includes some nuclear power and some other pieces that you wouldn’t have to consider if you had 60 Senators named Kerry or Gore. But the planet can’t wait for perfection.

<snip>

http://www.johnkerry.com/blog/2007/03/P10/

Sen. Kerry then went on to detail possible routes to carbon neutrality: a cap on use of carbon, the (disgracefully delayed) development of alternate renewable energy sources, such as geothermal and solar. In response to specific questions, Sen. Kerry acknowledged that nuclear energy would also be part of a “mosaic” of strategies, but also stressed that nuclear energy is not “the vision of the future.”

http://www.johnkerry.com/blog/2007/04/

Another question addressed nuclear energy, which JK considers a short term solution at best, and that the Commerce Committee needs to set standards and the president needs to commit to them.

[LaserSpot]

3. They have a point

So, gas plants still have to maintain the same base-load generating capacity, but they're selling less product when "cheap wind power" is online. Now they also have to act as a standby power backup service in case the wind dies? I can see why they're complaining, wind is costing them money.