Wind Turbine Payback in Boundary County, ID
Wind turbine payback in Boundary 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 Boundary County, ID averages 2.41 m/s (5.4 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 1,172 kWh a year, worth $153 at ID's 13.02¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of over 100 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Boundary County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Boundary County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.7 m/s at the hub against 2.41 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,063 kWh a year here against the turbine's 117, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 427¢/kWh, 32.8 times what ID pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.7 m/s instead of 2.41. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of ID
Boundary County is the 3,142nd windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in ID is Owyhee County at 5.38 m/s, payback 51 years.
Month by month in Boundary County
May is the strongest month here, at 2.54 m/s and about 122 kWh. August is the weakest, 2.27 m/s and 78 kWh, so the best month makes 1.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 40% of the year's output in Boundary County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.33 m/s | 87 kWh | $11 |
| February | 2.35 m/s | 81 kWh | $11 |
| March | 2.49 m/s | 113 kWh | $15 |
| April | 2.46 m/s | 105 kWh | $14 |
| May | 2.54 m/s | 122 kWh | $16 |
| June | 2.50 m/s | 110 kWh | $14 |
| July | 2.33 m/s | 87 kWh | $11 |
| August | 2.27 m/s | 78 kWh | $10 |
| September | 2.41 m/s | 97 kWh | $13 |
| October | 2.50 m/s | 114 kWh | $15 |
| November | 2.49 m/s | 109 kWh | $14 |
| December | 2.34 m/s | 88 kWh | $11 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Boundary County averages 1.66 m/s; at 50 m it is 2.87 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.340, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 661 to 2,232 kWh a year, 238% 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 | 2.1 m/s | 661 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 2.41 m/s | 1,177 kWh | over 100 years |
| 40 m | 2.66 m/s | 1,703 kWh | over 100 years |
| 50 m | 2.87 m/s | 2,232 kWh | over 100 years |
Counties around Boundary County
6 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Spokane County, averages 4.42 m/s.
- Bonner County, ID: 2.53 m/s, 1,413 kWh, payback over 100 years (31 mi)
- Pend Oreille County, WA: 2.48 m/s, 1,310 kWh, payback over 100 years (36 mi)
- Lincoln County, MT: 2.59 m/s, 1,543 kWh, payback over 100 years (51 mi)
- Stevens County, WA: 2.55 m/s, 1,456 kWh, payback over 100 years (66 mi)
- Kootenai County, ID: 3.64 m/s, 4,905 kWh, payback over 100 years (76 mi)
- Spokane County, WA: 4.42 m/s, 8,865 kWh, payback 78 years (89 mi)
Sun versus wind in Boundary County
Boundary County gets 3.64 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,063 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 117. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 9.1 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.