Have you seen this video yet?
I've watched quite a few videos and read a lot of books and PDFs on wind (as it's someday coming down the pipe for me), but wind is complicated, and there are lots of different ideas on how is best to convert wind to power.
Not sure if this (in the video) will wind up being any kind of holy-grail thing in the end, but it is the latest startup I've seen. In this case it is a VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine).. Generally it is considered that VAWTs are not as efficient as HAWTs, but who am I to say? I have no real hands on experience yet, just a bunch of textbook wannabe knowledge so far.
I do know that if I had a HAWT, I would want variable pitch blades for sure. As far as this VAWT style unit below in the video, it has a similar thing, it can be variable (open and close airflow to control itself, and variable magnet clearance generator tech) to protect it from overspeed, and control generator loading.