Energy guru pursues offshore wind

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Now that the divorce is final between Matt Simmons and the boutique investment bank he took public in 1974, the outspoken energy guru is free to pursue his latest passion—offshore wind.

Simmons officially parted ways with Simmons & Co. International in mid-June, after several years serving in a reduced capacity.

Simmons created the Ocean Energy Institute in Rockland, Maine, three years ago, but for all intents and purposes, 2010 is the first year of actually doing business, and it was aided by the split from his previous career.

His exit from Simmons & Co. followed a prediction published in Fortune that by mid-July BP would realize the severity of the Gulf of Mexico disaster and the associated cleanup costs, panic, and file for Chapter 11.

Simmons & Co. issued the cursory “thank you for your service” release, but added that the views of Simmons and the company he founded have “significantly diverged on some important fronts” over the past year.

The way Simmons sees it, the BP disaster is further proof of his peak-oil prediction, illustrating that all the low-hanging petroleum fruit has been harvested or discovered, and the rest is going to be expensive, difficult, and risky to extract.

Now he’s pushing the Simmons Plan through the Ocean Energy Institute, which he plans to take public by the end of the year in what could be a $1 billion IPO.

He plans to build the world’s largest wind farm off the coast of Maine for a cool $25 billion. To that end, Simmons has assembled an impressive board of directors and engineers: The roster includes Edward Horton, holder of more than 100 patents—many of which paved the way for the massive offshore oil and gas production platforms that enabled companies like BP to go deep.

Read the full story in Portfolio.com.