PickensPlan

PICKENS BUYS FOREIGN ON HIS FIRST CONTRACT

Pickens on his first contract for 1,000 windturbines goes with GE who imports their windturbines from Germany, The towers from China, and blades from India. GE is just another multinational importing foreign made goods.

So much for providing American jobs and reducing our trade deficit. Pickens did not set a good trend for other windfarms by going foreign. The estimated cost to put wind turbines throughout the plain is about 3 trillion dollars over the next ten years so how does it help us if we import most of the windturbines.

I have lost my enthusiasm for PICKENS PLAN.

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Permalink Reply by eric on July 23, 2008 at 6:10pm
i agree with this but it will still help with the oil problem
Permalink Reply by richard nodler on July 23, 2008 at 6:16pm
so what maybe we don't have the capicity yet
Permalink Reply by Noel Mullan on July 23, 2008 at 7:54pm
Do they make the windturban in this country?
I dont know if they do or not.
As a contractor I look for products that will do the job
I will buy them first made in USA if I can. If I need to get the job done I must use parts forign made
but will not like it.
Does he have a choice? please indicate the companys that make that size windturban
here in America. When we have this information we can confront Mr. Pickins.
If he proves they work and we have a market we will make them.


Thanks for listening
Noel


God Bless America
Permalink Reply by Bryan on July 23, 2008 at 9:25pm
Acconia Windpower in West Branch Iowa makes units of this size. They opened in January of this year. I know that there has been some difficulty moving the large blades from the manufacturing facility due to the radius of some of the highway access ramps here.
Permalink Reply by Joe2005 on July 23, 2008 at 8:10pm
I recently saw a help wanted ad for an electronic tech to service wind farms, and the pay was just a little over $12.00 an hour. Once again only a few individuals make a livable income while the educated man with skills cannot even afford a decent meal and a home to live in.

If Pickens is indeed buying foreign, then oh well, we got the shaft again. America lost the manufacturing jobs in the 70s when big management went overseas, and it appears, if the story of Pickens buying foreign is true, that once again there is a lot of talk from big money, and it's all lies.

It would take no longer than perhaps six months to build a wind generator company from scratch. At one time I worked as a senior aircraft inspector, and I watched as whole new plants were built within just a few months. Local economies often pay big companies to build plants in or near a city. There is not a problem of lack of manufacturing in America, it is rather the lack of customers to buy American products.

Pickens knows economics, and if he did indeed buy foreign, then he knows that he just harmed the American economy immensely.
Permalink Reply by JOHN ORBEN on July 23, 2008 at 8:12pm
Hey, where did your car parts come from?
Permalink Reply by David on July 23, 2008 at 8:55pm
Permalink Reply by Sper70 on July 23, 2008 at 9:04pm
GE in Erie, PA is building Wind Turbines right now as I write this. My Wife's uncle works first shift there, and he is working anywhere from 60-80 hours a week (as are everyone else in his department) to meet demand. I know some of the parts are produced in Poland, and elsewhere, but a lot of the parts are built right here in Erie, PA. As the economy worsens, GE in Erie is hiring.
Permalink Reply by jim mize on July 24, 2008 at 12:08am
Okay, I checked this out and they are making the gear boxes. But GE in a press release said the turbines were manufactured for them by a German Company, Now are these gear boxes just the housing or the actual gears.

Why can't the whole thing be made here?

The secret is in the details. What size wind turbine is it for and is it the entire turbine or just the gearbox like the press release said.
Permalink Reply by Bryan on July 23, 2008 at 9:19pm
But he is still providing American jobs, someone has to erect the towers, assemble the blade assemblies and so forth. And don't forget the maintenance on these units. If GE has the logistical power to provide the number of turbines needed in a short amount of time so be it. The next contract could go to a domestic company that now has the time to prepare for the logistics of a large order of large machinery as this.
Permalink Reply by David on July 23, 2008 at 9:22pm
Lots of good points being made here about economics and domestic production, so I'm not going to rehash them. One thing though that might help encourage and speed up domestic production of wind turbines might be if the government diverted their subsides from the oil companies to companies investing in renewable energy.

PS glad to hear Erie folks are getting some new work. Now if they would open a turbine plant in Cleveland, there are lots of old steelworkers in need of work there...
Permalink Reply by SCOTT ZUNIGA on July 23, 2008 at 9:41pm
I agree with you Jim, we need to keep this domestic, money, jobs etc.. This is off the subject, but it's like when we fork over millions of dollars to other countries to feed their poor. We have our own poor to feed. This is similar to what we’re doing now

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