Oil Giants Plunge Into The Wind Business

Shell Oil Company is one of the top five U.S. generators of wind power. BP’s Alternative Energy Group produces more than 500 megawatts of electricity using wind power.

Shell and BP executives acknowledge the fact that investments in wind power will give them an enhanced public image and possibly attract more customers.

The U.S. is number three in world wind power production, behind Germany and Spain. However, in 2006 the U.S. installed the most wind power in the world: 2,454 megawatts, which is enough electricity to power about 700,000 homes.

Aesthetics is said to be one of the major drawbacks of wind power, but this is a matter of opinion.

One of the largest U.S. wind power investors is Florida Power & Light. This includes many of their projects that are out of state. Other big investors include JP Morgan Chase and Babcock & Brown.

Source: Two Oil Giants Plunge Into The Wind Business, by John Donnelly, The Boston Globe, 2 March 2007, pg 1.

T. Boone Pickens is a billionaire oilman who is using his money and fame to lobby an energy plan for the United States. He says wind power is the answer. He is building a 4,000 megawatt wind farm at Pampa, Texas. Wind, he says could be the new cash crop for rural areas. Wind is environmentally and politically sound. “This is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of,” Pickens says.

Source: Billionaire Oilman, by Mark Mooney ABC News Internet Ventures 8 July 2008

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