I am no fan of wind energy, but if, and only if, it is economically feasible would I consider it. As for batteries, I agree they may not be the answer. But, maybe compressed air storage would work. It appears Texas is playing with it because of all the old salt dome mines there:
http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_wind-reserve.htm
Speaking of Austin, I read an interesting discussion in the book “Gusher of Lies” that said the nuke plant nearby was even cheaper than natural gas when we had that gas price spike a few years back. I would bank on nuclear before wind.
That is the problem, it is not feasible for commercial grade power needs in a free market system. If you live in a rural area and wish to generate your own power, then it can play a role. Our cities and industries need constant, reliable baseload capacity. Also, most wind farms are far, far away from the final customer, so you lose a lot of generated power from source to customer. Let us not even get into security issues related to windfarms.
I, too, would place my bets on nuclear power before commercial wind and solar.