Windmills are not only next to useless in reliably generating electricity, they are a blight on any landscape. I have seen in southwestern Minnesota virtual forests of these 300 foot monstrosities that extend literally from horizon to horizon. Often as not you drive by and see only a few if any turning in the wind... billions of dollars invested in electric power generation that depends on fickle winds is pure folly.
I've spent a lifetime as an engineer and I have to say that windmills not only blight the land scape and prove a danger to wild birds, they are a terribly inefficient depending as they do on the vagaries of the weather. The greatest flaw in the current crop of wind turbines is the placement of all of the heavy mechanical equipment atop the tower. If it becomes necessary to service any of the rotating equipment you need to bring in a crane somewhat taller than the tower. Servicing the rotor bearings (beyond an oil change) would require dismantling the blades and the pitch control. Servicing the speed increasing gear box or the generator itself would require removal of the components to the ground to allow disassembly and would seriously unbalance the pod housing at the top of the tower unless the blades were removed as well.
A better approach would be to place the mechanicals at the base of the tower and go with a vertical axis turbine. In truth it would solve some problems but nothing can remove the necessity for 100% fossil/hydro/nuclear backup of any wind power scheme.
Regards,
GtG