Instead of tying the wind generators into the grid, wouldn’t it be feasible to use the energy to produce hydrogen (and oxygen) through hydrolysis? Then you wouldn’t care so much about the intermittent wind. You would also not need the sophisticated electronics to synchronize the wind generators with the grid.
Just a thought.
hydrogen Society will come - question is not if - but when.
Actually that is not a problem because of digital controls on the generators and the wind turbine generators are not tied directly to the grid but are passed through an inverter.
Hydrolysis is pretty inefficient and Hydrogen is dangerous to work with (and what do you do with the oxygen which is also dangerous.). On the other hand if your turbines are very far from the grid it may be a feasible storage medium. But I think batteries are probably more efficient and safer.
In areas where there is plentiful wind and water, semiburied large water tanks can be used for pumped storage. Water could be pumped when the wind is blowing, day or night. Since windmills are usually installed on hilltops, all the water storage from an unlimited numers of windmills could be tied together to a common pipe and generators installed near the bottom of the hill, for use during peak demand.
Electricity doesn't care about uphill/downhill.
Perhaps McCain should visit General Compression. Their windmills turn air compressors instead of generators. The intermittently compressed air accumulates in a network of pipes and tanks (or underground cave if available), where it is available to power generators as needed.