"You hear that? That's the sound of money. Every second I’m getting paid"

I found that amusing coming from a man whose first name is Cash. I'm serious, his name is Cash.

As we looked up at the 250-ft tower, he continued...

"I love it. When I'm eating breakfast, I'm making money. When I go out to a fine restaurant in Bakersfield, the bill is already covered. Heck, even when I’m asleep, a steady stream of dollars gets deposited into my bank account."

Cash was talking about the eight 1.5MW wind turbines he owns on his wind park, located in the Tehachapi Pass Wind Resource Area, approximately 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

The one thing you have to understand about wind parks - just in case you ever decide to visit one - is that the wind blows non-stop.

And the Tehachapi Pass is one of the windiest regions in America.

In fact, average wind speeds approach 20 miles per hour there. That's the daily average. This places the Tehachapi Pass in a wind power class 6 (these classes range from class 1, the lowest, to class 7, the highest).

On the day I visited, the wind was brutal. It was blowing steadily at 48 mph. And it was colder than cold. Jeff Siegel and I weren’t dressed for these elements.

In fact, it was difficult to stand steady.

 

 

But I didn't care. I was looking at a "perpetual moneymaking machine." And I knew I was looking at the future energy source of America.

You see, Cash was absolutely right. Every time his turbine blades turned, he was sending energy to the grid owned by Southern California Edison. In return, SoCal Edison paid him for the energy he generated.

Cash isn't the only one cashing-in on the wind energy boom.

Even Boone Pickens Believes in Wind Energy

The wind energy industry has realized three consecutive years of record-setting growth. As a result, wind is attracting some heavy-duty investors. Even legendary Texas oilman Boone Pickens, who made his hundreds of millions in wildcatting for oil, is a believer in wind.

In a New York Times interview published recently, Boone was quoted as saying...

"I have the same feelings about wind as I had about the best oil field I ever found."

He is planning to build the biggest wind farm in the world, a $10 billion behemoth that could power a small city by itself.

Across the U.S., wind farms are on track to generate 48 billion kWh in 2008.

That's enough juice to power 4.5 million homes.

That’s about twice that of all the homes that went black just a couple days ago after a forced shutdown of nuclear reactors in Florida left millions without electricity.

Boone is a genius. He realizes that no matter what the stock market does... even if the subprime mortgage disaster sinks housing further, Americans still need to keep the lights on. Period.

Unfortunately, there's only a few ways to play wind in the public markets. And 99% of the publicly traded wind companies are very small. But that's the appeal. I consider wind a tiny but exceptionally lucrative investment niche in the renewable energy bull market.

In fact, wind is where geothermal and solar energy were 3 years ago:

 

That's great news for investors who buy into wind right now.

I believe 2008 and 2009 will be a breakthrough period for the wind energy bull market. If you haven't taken a position in wind companies, now is an excellent time to do.

Green Chip Stocks editor Jeff Siegel recently recommend a wind stock that he thinks is an easy double this year.

Good investing,

Brian Hicks

I read your article in Wealth Daily intitled It's Bigger Than Oil.
I object to your statement that the "forced shutdown" of the Turkey Point nuclear reactors caused the blackout. The reason was a failed switch and a piece of equipment that caught fire. Why do you put the blame on nuclear???The nuke plants did exactly as they are designed and they shut down or scaled back on their output to assure that the nuke plant would remain safe. Quit giving nuclear a "black eye". Nukes are on their way back. We may not be here to appreciate them but they are the future once again.

Start writing about how we can handle the waste material and how the Gov't should quit backing down to every state that says "not in my back yard". They have spent billions upon billions finding acceptable locations for storage etc, just to back down when some politician says "not in his state".

Of course you are in the business of selling your newsletter and eventualy, as in this case, some wind powered stocks. I hope wind power helps the future but nukes have to be considered also.

Thank you for your time. GO NUKES

Dear Brian,
I am always interested in stuff about wind-energy farms, though useually in a gut-churning - lurid ? - sort of way. The things Mr. Cash has look like things are getting less silly ! An almost pleasant surprise, and in a site as described I can believe he is doing allright from his INVESTMENT.
I feel qualified to say this because I have spent many years researching the subject and toward the end made what was to me a startling realization.
The return from a farm in a given site is a U-shaped function of the SIZE of the w-TADs employed !
This stems from the fact that one turbine of twice the diameter cost 8 times as much for materials yet replaces only 4
While One alternator of 4 times the thro'put costs only twice as much as one of the replaced.

I have a beautiful design of TAD which suspends in columns from a catenary cable and provides some 50% of the wind's total k.e. for use. I estimate 5% of cost returned p.a. in an average site and probably 15?% in that canyon.
Each TAD is 65cm inlet and 92cm at exit.
I need to be in touch with people who may be interersted in manufacturing these devices, and hope you may be interested in helping in this respect.
Yours sincerely
G. Bert Vaughan
Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria