BREEZY TALK
The Texas Wind Powers
A Big Energy Gamble
Shell, Others, Pile In
Despite Regulatory Risk;
Poke Arnold's 'Rib Eye'
By JEFFREY BALL
March 13, 2007; Page A1
SILVERTON, Texas -- Deep in the heart of Texas, multinational giants are gambling on a new supply of energy. The prize isn't oil. It's wind.
In this pancake-flat country, where the wind blows so relentlessly that the sagebrush and mesquite are permanently bent, Royal Dutch Shell Group, BP PLC and a wind-development company owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are racing to lease vast expanses of ranchland. In a bet on wind power's long-term viability, they're planning to erect what would be some of the biggest wind farms in the world, with thousands of wind turbines costing some $2 million apiece. |
