Wind Turbine Payback in Brown County, TX
Wind turbine payback in Brown 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 Brown County, TX averages 6.05 m/s (13.5 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 20,075 kWh a year, worth $3,218 at TX's 16.03¢/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 Brown County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Brown County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.6 m/s at the hub against 6.05 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,451 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,008, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 25¢/kWh, 1.6 times what TX pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.6 m/s instead of 6.05. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of TX
Brown County is the 769th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in TX is Dallam County at 6.82 m/s, payback 24 years.
Month by month in Brown County
April is the strongest month here, at 7.05 m/s and about 2,254 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.97 m/s and 1,047 kWh, so the best month makes 2.2 times the worst. November to March brings in 47% of the year's output in Brown County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.29 m/s | 1,854 kWh | $297 |
| February | 6.51 m/s | 1,801 kWh | $289 |
| March | 6.74 m/s | 2,138 kWh | $343 |
| April | 7.05 m/s | 2,254 kWh | $361 |
| May | 6.35 m/s | 1,893 kWh | $303 |
| June | 5.87 m/s | 1,540 kWh | $247 |
| July | 5.26 m/s | 1,219 kWh | $195 |
| August | 4.97 m/s | 1,047 kWh | $168 |
| September | 5.06 m/s | 1,063 kWh | $170 |
| October | 5.96 m/s | 1,647 kWh | $264 |
| November | 6.34 m/s | 1,827 kWh | $293 |
| December | 6.27 m/s | 1,843 kWh | $295 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Brown County averages 4.71 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.79 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.227, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,145 to 25,529 kWh a year, 58% 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 | 5.51 m/s | 16,145 kWh | 39 years |
| 30 m | 6.05 m/s | 20,049 kWh | 31 years |
| 40 m | 6.45 m/s | 23,072 kWh | 27 years |
| 50 m | 6.79 m/s | 25,529 kWh | 24 years |
Counties around Brown County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Callahan County, averages 6.26 m/s.
- Coleman County, TX: 6.11 m/s, 20,520 kWh, payback 30 years (23 mi)
- Comanche County, TX: 6.05 m/s, 20,075 kWh, payback 31 years (29 mi)
- Mills County, TX: 5.87 m/s, 18,742 kWh, payback 33 years (30 mi)
- Eastland County, TX: 6.13 m/s, 20,668 kWh, payback 30 years (40 mi)
- Callahan County, TX: 6.26 m/s, 21,632 kWh, payback 29 years (43 mi)
- San Saba County, TX: 5.82 m/s, 18,374 kWh, payback 34 years (43 mi)
Sun versus wind in Brown County
Brown County gets 4.97 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,451 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,008. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.4 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.