I have read a lot of articles from both sides. Here is my opinion for what it is worth. It is going to be a long read, so I am breaking it up into sections.
I conclude that the electrical infrastructure needs to be upgraded, BEFORE electric cars come into being. I have no problem with wind, hydro, geothermal, nuclear, and solar power, but each has it's advantage and disadvantage.
Windmills should be made from materials than can be recycled, like aluminum instead of fiberglass, so landfills won't be full of cracked fiberglass. Windmills last 25-30 years before they have to be replaced. They have gearing which requires oil changes at least once a year. Gears wear down with time as well as cracks in the windmill blades under very high winds, thus the 25-30 year lifespand. Aluminum lasts longer and can be recycled, but costs more. The fossil fuel cost needed to make a windmill is equal from 2-5 year payback of power production, thus the longer they last, the more payback or in other words energy produced is free after the payback period other than maintenance. Overall the cost of a windmill system is about equal to burning natural gas for power.
One of the problems with windmills is there is a lot of power to be produced in the Great Plains, actually enough for the whole country. Transmitting it is the problem. Not as many people live in the plains. Most of America lives east of the Mississippi with a large strip along the west coast. Texas is in the best place to use wind. However they can't perform their yearly maintenance during the middle of winter or summer like they did during the cold winter recently. They have to do it in spring or fall. The wind produced in west Texas can be pushed to east Texas. Wind from say Nebraska can't be pushed to Pennsylvania.
Offshore wind is another good way to get power. It does cost more than ground based. Offshore New England down to North Carolina would help the heavily populated east coast. A lot of people don't want to go to the beach and look at offshore windmills, but if they want alternative energy, they will have to look at them. Windmills are the lowest cost alternative energy.
Along with windmills, the grid has to be made to be protected from EMP pulses and computer hacking. Congress estimated this protection would cost about 50-200 billion back in the early 2,000's. A very low cost spread out over the whole country over several years.
I am going to write about Solar Energy next.