Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Pickens Plan, Part 3

The Federal Production Credit for wind power is 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour and is set to expire on December 31st. Pickens has ordered 1000 megawatts of wind turbines. The federal benefit would provide Pickens with $19,000/hr in federal benefits, or $166 million per year.

More important is the value added if the federal government exercises eminent domain and condemns land for transmission lines. The value of this is easily in the billions.

I had previously speculated that 33% of electricity could be generated by wind. I reduce this percentage to 20% based on Denmark’s experience. Denmark has 15% of it’s electricity generated by wind and is beginning to have problems. Wind can stop for days at a time. Our wind would be spread over a wider region than Denmark, accounting for the extra 5%.

The Pickens plan would not benefit our country. Our resources should instead be going into nuclear power and electrified rail systems. Nice blondes though.

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