How about a flying windmill, tethered to the ground but flying in the jet stream at 15,000 feet? High Altitude Wind Power
Wind can be planned around. Denmark get's 20% of it's power from wind. Yes, tidal can and eventually will provide a lot of power. However, there are still issues of transmission. Tidal isn't really going to help people in central Asia or North Dakota.
I had a 3.3 KW system installed 1 year ago. Haven't had to pay for electricity since. In fact over the course of 12 months, I had a net production of 1 month's worth of electricity put back into the grid. It cost 17K after rebates and tax credits. Not financially worthwhilte, but emotionally I feel just a little bit better taking away our share of excess atmospheric carbon. We've just ordered a prius last weekend. My wife is a little sad though that she won't be driving her 350z as much.
Cool. What kinda turbine do you have? Bergey, African Wind, someone else? Is it an inter-tie system or do you have batteries that you charge?