That's what I do, but there's no way I can place the rest of my generators once this starts happening, because I can't get close enough...
But at least knowing that it *is* sound lag means, at a minimum, I can place gens and wait for the storage to fill so they shut off...
My (limited) experience is that it's the diamond drill that breaks the bank, power wise. A normal drill with OV scanner will be fine with a basic coal-burning generator (you'll be cooking a lot of trees), or a single-block reactor with 1 uranium and 4 coolant (good for about two 64-block holes with an OV scanner, which will usually generate more U than you use). Takes longer, but very portable (and it's not like you have to stand there and watch it, so I don't really care if it takes a little longer).
I decided that a big wind farm at the top of the world was the best way to power a mass fab... The problem is, I can't put any more up than about 16-20 before my client goes crazy (server is fine, which leads me to believe that the problem is with the presentation rather than the mechanics), and I need 128 or so. What's the difference between these and solar gens? I have a 400+ solar array that's just fine.
Is it because the client can't handle all the overlapping sound effects from the turbines? Is there an easy way to shut them up so I can test that theory? (will removing the .ogg from the .jar break anything?)
Wouldn't it be easier to just put the switch on the mass fab itself? 
I thought a redstone signal shut them down...
