Articles

The cost of wind energy is expensive at present; and therefore subsidized by the governments as mentioned in your article. The present rates for electric power are highest in the countries with the highest amount of wind production, for example, Denmark(highest amount of wind production as % of grid) is 29.5 cents/KwHr, the Netherlands is 26 cents/KwHr, and Germany is 21 cents/KwHr vs the 9 cents/KwHr I pay in Chicago (Exelon territory.
The larger question is the reliability/longevity of the wind towers since Vestas (one of the world's largest wind technology suppliers - Ref. IEEE Spectrum Nov 2004) had failures in 2004 at the largest offshore wind farm which was only commissioned in 2002. A further question is the high maintenance costs over time associated with a geographically distributed generation system which is comprised of many units when compared to a few generation units located in one place.

The need for back-up power has not been overstated, because transmission line interconnections are very difficult to erect due to the number of permits needed/number of states affected. Moreover, the article should address energy storage, for example, pumped storage as an adjunct to the large increase in a variable energy source. Pumped storage is the most efficient energy storage system (72% overall efficiency)