whatever the outcome of your project i hope it grows legs,, long legs!
this subject is something i have been thinking about and researching for a very long time, and i hope folks like Flux and others band together to see one of these things to fruition.
we know in theory it will work, we know that manufactures build these things every day, we know where to get the parts, so now it comes down to learning how to get the bits to play together successfully.
i recently purchased this book
http://cgi.ebay.com/POWER-ELECTRONICS-w-CD-LIST-125-95-Cond-New_W0QQitemZ380033637938QQihZ025QQcateg
oryZ2228QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
for about half what they want for it now, but the point being it is a very good design book laying out circuit design, component selection and most important
circuit board layout (stressing issues with stray capacitance/inductance etc)
if anyone knows of another very good text on power electronics, i for one would like to hear about it. 
i look at some of the igbt's surplus on ebay, and one can get some really high power units pretty reasonably.
not quite to the point of trying my hand at putting together a switch mode recifier myself just yet,, but i am thinking i soon will give it a try and see how much fire and smoke i can get per dollar invested 
who knows i might get lucky and get something together that works, aside from the cost of parts the labor involved is far lighter than building towers and lifting generators.
one thing i am thinking is the use of an automotive voltage regulator, they operate on a pwm scheme (and are readily available quite cheaply even new) they can provide several amps of power in a range that might be useful as a trigger for a driver circuit? they have the sense wire for feedback and can control charging voltage as tightly as needed (some being adjustable as well)
so that leaves one with the design of the driver circuit of which some are all on chip from the manufacture reducing the need for alot of design and board layout concerns.
if you get the driver worked out, then using the igbt's should be pretty easy
most of the larger high power units are remote mounted with a twisted pair wires to
provide access to the gate. i see them used that way on other applications so it would appear that the stray capacitance/inductance issues is not much an issue for the igbt if used in this manner.
so i guess at this point it is the careful design of the driver circuit and its board so it can run stable and reliable?
i have the high side rectifiers 275amp @ 300 volts and some very large heat sinks
to bolt them and the low side igbt's to. just haven't bought any igbt's yet.
recently on ebay there was a new set of igbt's set up with the driver boards
everything complete that would have been nice,, actually their were two of them
and they were setup for 3 phase, new with instruction manual etc. they originally were made for a ac to dc converter of some sort. iirc they were 1200volt @ 300amps the two went together for 135 bucks,, i missed the deadline
personally i am not afraid of the power levels required as i work with 440/480 3 phase regularly as it is.
i like this project 
bob g