Matt Simmons' Plan for the world's biggest wind farm  

The IHT has a report on a plan by Matt Simmons and George Hart to build the world's largest wind farm in the gulf of Maine - Plans for the world's biggest wind farm.

It is not the usual green suspect. But it hopes to build a 5-gigawatt, deep-water wind farm - the largest in the world, equal to the output from five nuclear plants.

"It" is the Ocean Energy Institute, a tiny research organization founded by Matthew Simmons. An energy investment banker who specializes in oil and gas, Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush. His main partner, George Hart, is a physicist who consults for the Pentagon on the Strategic Defense Initiative, where he uses supercomputers for the mathematical modeling of complex systems. He also co-invented a laser used for eye surgery and semiconductor manufacturing.

Simmons does not believe in climate change, but he believes in peak oil. His book, "Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy," presciently published in 2005, argued that the world was at or near peak oil production, which would limit supply and drive prices skyward.

The International Energy Agency appeared to support that thesis in a report released Nov. 12, saying that, even if demand remained flat, by 2030, the world would need to find new oil production equivalent to four Saudi Arabias, merely to offset oil field decline.

Simmons predicts resource wars if the world fails to change course; and he is particularly concerned with the future of Maine, where he has a home.

"Understand how dire it is in the state of Maine," said Habib Dagher, an engineering professor at the University of Maine who specializes in composite materials and is working to develop advanced turbines. About 80 percent of Maine residents use oil to heat their homes, and the price of heating oil tracks that of crude. The average family uses about 1,000 gallons, or 3,785 liters a year, so if prices are $4 a gallon, or $1.06 a liter, that's about one-tenth of the average family's annual income.

Simmons, referring to the proposed wind farm, said, "If we don't do this, we're going to have to evacuate most of Maine."

The institute's founding mission was to study different forms of ocean energy. But Hart quickly realized that the Gulf of Maine has one of the best wind resources on the planet. The U.S. Department of Energy has rated it up to a Class 6 on a scale of 7.

Gale-force winds there in winter carry as much as eight times more energy than summer breezes. That means more power could be available precisely at periods of greatest demand. "The resource matches the problem the state of Maine faces," Dagher said.

The target generating capacity of 5 gigawatts equals the power required to replace the use of home heating oil in winter, said Simmons. But more could be generated if necessary. The Gulf of Maine has an estimated total wind power potential of 100 gigawatts.