Indeed. It's one of those recurring engineering memes that makes the rounds every decade or so. Id be surprised if it hasn't been on the cover, or in the pages of, Popular [Science|Mechanics] at least once a decade for the past 50 years.

What I personally don't understand is why these aren't themselves driven by a vertical air wind turbine. The rotational speeds aren't very high, and it seems like a no-brainer. A VAWT with variable vanes could easily be shut down in a storm.