According to numerous US news outlets, beginning with the Minneapolis StarTribune, Pickens has sold off his entire stake in a long-delayed wind farm in Goodhue County, Minnesota.
The project -- which replaced an even more ambitious plan originally slated for Texas -- was to have been a 78 MW wind farm comprised of some 334 turbines on 15,000 acres of former farmland in Goodhue, Minnesota.
But delays not only stymied development they caused a dramatic reworking of the plan. At last report that facility was to be comprised of a mere 50 turbines -- a far cry from Pickens' original vision.
That vision, announced in 2008, was to build the world's largest wind farm on the Texas plains. Pickens got so far as to purchase 500 GE turbines for the project, but development was hampered by a number factors including, but not limited to, the dramatic drop in the price of natural gas.
While the smaller Minnesota project initially seemed like a workable alternative, it suffered from opposition by environmentalists, who worried the turbines would injured bats and federally protected bald eagles, and nearby residents who complained the wind farm would reduce the value of their properties and diminish their well-being by creating unwelcome noise.
Pickens' American Wind Alliance LLC has sold its interest in the wind farm to a local community board which says it will proceed with the project under the name New Era Wind Farm LLC.
A number of the advisory board members are life-long residents of the farming community, according to published reports.
For additional information:
