Wind Turbine Payback in Calcasieu Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Calcasieu 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 Calcasieu Parish, LA averages 5.34 m/s (11.9 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 14,892 kWh a year, worth $1,976 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 51 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Calcasieu Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Calcasieu Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 5.34 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,334 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,489, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 34¢/kWh, 2.5 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 5.34. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Calcasieu Parish is the 1,311th 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 Calcasieu Parish
April is the strongest month here, at 6.17 m/s and about 1,724 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.04 m/s and 574 kWh, so the best month makes 3.0 times the worst. November to March brings in 53% of the year's output in Calcasieu Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.00 m/s | 1,673 kWh | $222 |
| February | 6.14 m/s | 1,594 kWh | $212 |
| March | 6.04 m/s | 1,701 kWh | $226 |
| April | 6.17 m/s | 1,724 kWh | $229 |
| May | 5.56 m/s | 1,400 kWh | $186 |
| June | 4.60 m/s | 817 kWh | $108 |
| July | 4.07 m/s | 590 kWh | $78 |
| August | 4.04 m/s | 574 kWh | $76 |
| September | 4.65 m/s | 845 kWh | $112 |
| October | 5.19 m/s | 1,175 kWh | $156 |
| November | 5.67 m/s | 1,421 kWh | $189 |
| December | 6.04 m/s | 1,701 kWh | $226 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Calcasieu Parish averages 4.35 m/s; at 50 m it is 5.88 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.187, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 12,226 to 18,816 kWh a year, 54% 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 | 4.95 m/s | 12,226 kWh | 62 years |
| 30 m | 5.34 m/s | 14,922 kWh | 51 years |
| 40 m | 5.64 m/s | 17,051 kWh | 44 years |
| 50 m | 5.88 m/s | 18,816 kWh | 40 years |
Counties around Calcasieu Parish
None of the 6 closest counties is windier than Calcasieu Parish.
- Cameron Parish, LA: 5.34 m/s, 14,892 kWh, payback 51 years (27 mi)
- Beauregard Parish, LA: 3.83 m/s, 5,753 kWh, payback over 100 years (29 mi)
- Jefferson Davis Parish, LA: 3.83 m/s, 5,753 kWh, payback over 100 years (32 mi)
- Orange County, TX: 4.69 m/s, 10,508 kWh, payback 59 years (33 mi)
- Allen Parish, LA: 3.83 m/s, 5,753 kWh, payback over 100 years (43 mi)
- Newton County, TX: 3.18 m/s, 3,165 kWh, payback over 100 years (45 mi)
Sun versus wind in Calcasieu Parish
Calcasieu Parish gets 4.57 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,334 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,489. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.1 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.