I read recently that while the wind power generation in TX is great, there is a bit of a problem with power distribution especially when generation exceeds demand. The problem according to the article was that TX has a mostly isolated grid from the rest of the country. That means that its less likely for a cascading power failure in neighboring states will take out the TX power grid, but it also means that a lot of renewable energy production in TX can't be made available to customers outside the state. Not being able to sell excess power will have a stabilizing effect on energy prices, keeping them artificially high. But that's probably necessary in order to preserve traditional power production that we need to fill in the gaps when natural power sources sag or don't produce enough during peak demand times. We still need a revolution in power storage, otherwise we'll always be reliant on traditional power sources to fill in when the renewable sources can't keep up.
Personally I'm in favor of pumped water as a great way to put excess power in the bank. Set up a couple of dual reservoirs with as much of an altitude difference between the two as practical. When there is excess power, pump the water uphill to the high reservoir. When power generation isn't keeping up (hot day with no wind for example, or during hot nights when local solar isn't available), run the water back downhill through turbines. The reservoirs, if located in favorable locations, could provide for natural wildlife preservation and/or recreation which could help justify the expense of creating them, they have fewer drawbacks than some of the other stranger ideas like pumping high pressure air into underground caverns like a big high pressure bottle (fracking probably causes earthquakes, what would this idea do?), and it has the potential to dramatically reduce demand for fossil fuel burning power plants that are currently required for peak load times even in areas with lots of renewable energy sources.
