Diversity is best. Solar and wind combined. With the low angle winter sun you will still get some juice and the wind gen will be a good supplement and vise versa when the wind is calm. The phone company batteries are great but in a pinch any battery designed for the discharge and recharge cycles those go through will do as well ..like golf cart batteries and such. Regular deep cycle and auto batteries wont last long and may burst just an FYI.

On a side note I watched a show on one of the sci or discovery channels a while back and they were showing a solar wind generator in Europe which was basically using the heat from the sun to cause a strong updraft to power wind turbines at the ground level entrances. It was really just a round greenhouse with a stack. I often thought of trying to design one to a smaller scale. I think one could also mount solar panels on it to get both charges going.