Using the horizontal moving air masses model may be inappropriate. when there is a mechanism to turn this horizontal vortex into a vertical vortex you have a tornado, and this indeed represents a stupendous concentration of local kinetic energy. A hurricane may be a more diffuse version. Obvoisly these conditions are unusual in the lower few thousand feet of the atmosphere and thus would be very intermittant (thankfully). At least this applies to the vertical conversion aspect. Horizontal vorticies are probably fairly common, but they are fairly diffuse. and impeded near the surface.
My very limited understanding is that dust devils (and some water spouts?) operate by a different mechanism. Hot air rising starts spinning due to Coriolis effect and this results in a spiraling updraft. this is a concentration of energy but at least several orders of magnitude less than tornadoes. I could see a contained column capturing this energy.
The question is the quantity and the cost. Those are some large chemmenys and apparently need significant feedin clear land. Also, if thermals, they would only operate during the day. If native wind based they may work at night. Essentially they would need to be compared to solar collectors and / or windmills on an output/ cost basis. If the devices are based on native winds, I doubt they could compete with propeller based windmills. These have already been designed for best efficiencies against other types of windmills, like the vertical ones:
https://www.google.com/search?q=vertica ... =firefox-a
If rising thermals based, it might be appropriate in places that are hot and without much wind, but the sizes seem intimidating for modest power output. And it would have to be compared to solar thermal plants, or photovoltaics.
I'm not sure it is relevant to the 'vortex' approach , but sailboats have been built with columnar sails, and there are operational advantages,
http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/10/ve ... nd-market/
,but there has not been any rush to replace conventional sails or engines- which I read as an indication of the relative inefficiencies of this approach.
Again, it all comes down the the cost / benefit ratio. Of course government subsidies also figure into the equation.
Dan Tibbets