Can the Pickens plan save us from our dependence on energy imports?

Billionaire oilman, philanthropist T. Bone Pickens has a plan to wean us our dependence on energy imports. He plans on building the worlds largest wind farm. It’s a far more detailed plan than either presidential candidate has laid out. But then again, the best plans always rise from the private sector.

From Forbes:

At 80 the oilman and financier is healthy and having some of his best years in business. “Of all the taxes I’ve paid, 90% of them were after I was 70,” says Pickens, who forwarded $200 million of his capital gains to the U.S. Treasury last year. Worth $3 billion at last count, he’s still drilling for oil and buying water rights. His Mesa Energy in May bought 667 wind turbines from GE and has spent $2 billion so far developing a 4-gigawatt wind farm, the world’s biggest, in the Texas panhandle.

From Cleantechnica:

When one of Texas’s richest oil men bets big on wind energy, it gets attention. Yesterday NPR’s Living on Earth broadcast an interview with Mr. Pickens, who shared the salient facts about his planned wind project:

• It will be the largest in the world, he reckons, at 4,000 megawatts
• It will provide enough power for 1,300,000 homes
• It’s a $10 billion dollar project from which he plans a 15%-25% profit

Asked why he is investing in wind now, Pickens replied:

“For a number of years I’ve watched the wind turbines develop — and I feel like it’s time for it. I think that oil has peaked at 85 million barrels in the world. We’ve got to develop other forms of energy — wind, I think solar will be next, and I hope I’m still around to be in the solar deal.” (Pickens is 80 years old.

So Pickens has a plan. Sounds like a good one. I applaud this man for stepping up and doing something with his brain and his money.