United States: Wind sector takes a battering

ENERGY magnate T Boone Pickens' decision to postpone plans to develop a large wind-farm project in Texas reflects continuing uncertainty in the country's wind industry, where growth has been stunted by the recession. Pickens has spent millions of dollars promoting his plan for new energy projects, including a proposed $10bn investment in a 4 gigawatt (GW) wind farm in the Texas panhandle. But now he says funding and grid connectivity problems have made a project on that scale impractical. "Transmission issues and problems with capital markets make that unfeasible at this point," Pickens said last month. He also cited lower natural gas prices as another complication for renewables developers.