Wind Turbine Payback in Atchison County, KS
Wind turbine payback in Atchison County
No. The turbine wears out before it pays for itself.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Atchison County, KS averages 6.17 m/s (13.8 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 20,965 kWh a year, worth $3,199 at KS's 15.26¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 31 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Atchison County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Atchison County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.8 m/s at the hub against 6.17 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,256 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,097, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 24¢/kWh, 1.6 times what KS pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.8 m/s instead of 6.17. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of KS
Atchison County is the 608th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in KS is Edwards County at 6.68 m/s, payback 27 years.
Month by month in Atchison County
April is the strongest month here, at 7.07 m/s and about 2,263 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.94 m/s and 1,032 kWh, so the best month makes 2.2 times the worst. November to March brings in 47% of the year's output in Atchison County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.45 m/s | 1,954 kWh | $298 |
| February | 6.45 m/s | 1,765 kWh | $269 |
| March | 6.82 m/s | 2,187 kWh | $334 |
| April | 7.07 m/s | 2,263 kWh | $345 |
| May | 6.21 m/s | 1,803 kWh | $275 |
| June | 5.90 m/s | 1,556 kWh | $237 |
| July | 5.01 m/s | 1,073 kWh | $164 |
| August | 4.94 m/s | 1,032 kWh | $157 |
| September | 5.80 m/s | 1,496 kWh | $228 |
| October | 6.43 m/s | 1,943 kWh | $297 |
| November | 6.64 m/s | 2,010 kWh | $307 |
| December | 6.36 m/s | 1,899 kWh | $290 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Atchison County averages 4.79 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.94 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.230, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,916 to 26,613 kWh a year, 57% more, before counting the extra cost of the taller tower. Why tower height decides it explains the shear behind these numbers.
| Hub height | Average wind | Output | Payback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 m | 5.62 m/s | 16,916 kWh | 39 years |
| 30 m | 6.17 m/s | 20,970 kWh | 31 years |
| 40 m | 6.59 m/s | 24,090 kWh | 27 years |
| 50 m | 6.94 m/s | 26,613 kWh | 25 years |
Counties around Atchison County
1 of the 6 closest counties is windier at turbine height; the windiest, Brown County, averages 6.2 m/s.
- Doniphan County, KS: 6.07 m/s, 20,223 kWh, payback 32 years (20 mi)
- Jefferson County, KS: 6.15 m/s, 20,816 kWh, payback 32 years (21 mi)
- Brown County, KS: 6.2 m/s, 21,187 kWh, payback 31 years (24 mi)
- Jackson County, KS: 6.17 m/s, 20,965 kWh, payback 31 years (27 mi)
- Leavenworth County, KS: 6.06 m/s, 20,149 kWh, payback 33 years (28 mi)
- Buchanan County, MO: 6.06 m/s, 20,149 kWh, payback 35 years (28 mi)
Sun versus wind in Atchison County
Atchison County gets 4.3 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,256 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,097. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.7 times. Panel output assumes an 80% system performance ratio. Wind or solar runs the same comparison for every county.
How this is worked out
Wind is NASA's Power climate record, the 2001-2025 average at 10 m and 50 m for the county's centre, carried to 30 m with this county's own measured wind shear and spread into hours with a Rayleigh distribution. The turbine is a generic 10 kW, 7 m rotor machine with 10% losses. Cost is $10,000 per kW installed with no tax credit, because the federal one ended in 2025. One county-centre number cannot see your hilltop or your tree line, so treat it as the starting point for a site survey, not a substitute. The full method and its weak spots are in how the numbers are made.