There's a great article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about the conflict in Texas between those producing electricity from wind farms and those who produce it from natural gas. Every day, electricity producers have to tell the system how much power they can make available during the day. Loading usually starts with the cheapest, usually wind, and then other forms (coal, nuclear, gas) are added as needed. Gas is usually the last to come on line, because it's the most expensive. However,wind is given a special benefit - it's not penalized if the winds don't blow as hard as expected, and the wind farms end up short in their estimates, while other plants are required to make up for any shortage in their production.
Wind power is here to stay, because it has too much support, even among those of us who don't care at all that it emits no greenhouse gases. However, it will be a while before it can compete on a level playing field with fossil fuels.
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