Pickens Backs Off Plan for World's Biggest Wind Farm

By KEITH JOHNSON
T. Boone Pickens, the oilman turned wind-power maven, has backed off plans to build the world's biggest wind farm in the Texas panhandle, he said Tuesday.
Wind power, like other forms of clean electricity generation, has been battered by the financial crisis and competition from cheap natural gas, even as Congress grapples with legislation meant to promote clean energy and revamp the country's energy system.
Mr. Pickens, who has spent the last year pushing his "Pickens Plan" to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, said the wind farm project was scuttled in part because of the lack of adequate transmission lines to carry the electricity from remote locations to cities. He had hoped to build new transmission lines but ultimately was unable to secure financing.
Natural gas-fired power plants are direct competitors to wind farms and other forms of clean energy. Natural gas prices have fallen about 70% from last year's high, making wind less attractive as a source of power.
In a statement, Mr. Pickens said he plans to find new homes for the turbines he has already agreed to buy. "I'm committed to 667 wind turbines," he said, "and I am going to find projects for them."
Write to Keith Johnson at keith.johnson@wsj.com