Wind Turbine Payback in Avoyelles Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Avoyelles Parish
No. The turbine wears out before it pays for itself.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Avoyelles Parish, LA averages 4.23 m/s (9.5 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 7,787 kWh a year, worth $1,033 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 97 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Avoyelles Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Avoyelles Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 4.23 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,361 kWh a year here against the turbine's 779, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 64¢/kWh, 4.8 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 4.23. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Avoyelles Parish is the 1,926th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in LA is Iberia Parish at 5.86 m/s, payback 40 years.
Month by month in Avoyelles Parish
March is the strongest month here, at 4.88 m/s and about 995 kWh. July is the weakest, 3.18 m/s and 268 kWh, so the best month makes 3.7 times the worst. November to March brings in 56% of the year's output in Avoyelles Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.77 m/s | 938 kWh | $124 |
| February | 4.95 m/s | 937 kWh | $124 |
| March | 4.88 m/s | 995 kWh | $132 |
| April | 4.88 m/s | 962 kWh | $128 |
| May | 4.23 m/s | 660 kWh | $88 |
| June | 3.56 m/s | 376 kWh | $50 |
| July | 3.18 m/s | 268 kWh | $36 |
| August | 3.25 m/s | 287 kWh | $38 |
| September | 3.69 m/s | 421 kWh | $56 |
| October | 4.13 m/s | 617 kWh | $82 |
| November | 4.53 m/s | 780 kWh | $104 |
| December | 4.72 m/s | 910 kWh | $121 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Avoyelles Parish averages 3.01 m/s; at 50 m it is 4.95 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.309, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 5,295 to 12,199 kWh a year, 130% 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 | 3.73 m/s | 5,295 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 4.23 m/s | 7,772 kWh | 97 years |
| 40 m | 4.62 m/s | 10,072 kWh | 75 years |
| 50 m | 4.95 m/s | 12,199 kWh | 62 years |
Counties around Avoyelles Parish
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Pointe Coupee Parish, averages 4.77 m/s.
- Rapides Parish, LA: 3.85 m/s, 5,847 kWh, payback over 100 years (33 mi)
- Concordia Parish, LA: 4.14 m/s, 7,301 kWh, payback over 100 years (34 mi)
- Pointe Coupee Parish, LA: 4.77 m/s, 11,018 kWh, payback 68 years (35 mi)
- St. Landry Parish, LA: 4.77 m/s, 11,018 kWh, payback 68 years (35 mi)
- Evangeline Parish, LA: 4.4 m/s, 8,748 kWh, payback 86 years (36 mi)
- West Feliciana Parish, LA: 3.4 m/s, 3,942 kWh, payback over 100 years (36 mi)
Sun versus wind in Avoyelles Parish
Avoyelles Parish gets 4.66 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,361 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 779. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 1.7 times as much here as the turbine. 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.