By niche source I mean less than 5% of the generating capacity. I used the term windmill loosely. I am, in fact, professionally involved with large scale wind farms, which I regard as generally wasting taxpayer funds. Very interesting!
I suspect that you may be aware that wind provides 18 percent of all the power consumed in Denmark and that number is still growing. In Germany which has the weakest winds in europe they produce, I believe, about 4 percent of their power from wind, and they use a lot of power.
Using todays technology we could produce all 3 quads of electricity that this country uses from Texay, N Dakota, and Nebraska. Yes this is equivalent kwhrs but not necessarily as demanded. Still the point is clear that the potential of wind to produce vast amounts of power for less than we pay for gas fired power is there.
European governments are even more prone to waste the scarce resources of their countries on politically correct "investments" that our government is.
The Danes, in particular, have taken it as a policy goal to reduce CO2 emissions by 20%, and wind power only because rational when evaluated by reference to such irrational constraints, as documented in
http://www.akf.dk/eng/wind.htm. That document reports (as of 1996):
"The production costs of the most efficient windmills on the present market (600 kW) are DKK 0.32 per kWh if they are located on average sites. This figure includes back-up costs of DKK 0.04 per kWh. Production costs of a conventional power plant are DKK 0.24-0.25 per kWh."
Thus the Danes rationalize stealing 30% higher energy costs from their citizens in service of the international environmentally-driven socialist Revolution. From my perspective, it stinks. These folks are the Pharisees of our day.