Wind Turbine Payback in Calumet County, WI
Wind turbine payback in Calumet 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 Calumet County, WI averages 6.53 m/s (14.6 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 23,628 kWh a year, worth $4,501 at WI's 19.05¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 22 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Calumet County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Calumet County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 6.9 m/s at the hub against 6.53 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,113 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,363, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 21¢/kWh, 1.1 times what WI pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 6.9 m/s instead of 6.53. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of WI
Calumet County is the 165th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in WI is Manitowoc County at 7.32 m/s, payback 18 years.
Month by month in Calumet County
January is the strongest month here, at 7.26 m/s and about 2,455 kWh. August is the weakest, 5.31 m/s and 1,248 kWh, so the best month makes 2.0 times the worst. November to March brings in 49% of the year's output in Calumet County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.26 m/s | 2,455 kWh | $468 |
| February | 7.31 m/s | 2,241 kWh | $427 |
| March | 6.88 m/s | 2,226 kWh | $424 |
| April | 7.10 m/s | 2,281 kWh | $435 |
| May | 6.35 m/s | 1,894 kWh | $361 |
| June | 5.70 m/s | 1,438 kWh | $274 |
| July | 5.34 m/s | 1,264 kWh | $241 |
| August | 5.31 m/s | 1,248 kWh | $238 |
| September | 6.16 m/s | 1,718 kWh | $327 |
| October | 6.88 m/s | 2,226 kWh | $424 |
| November | 7.04 m/s | 2,244 kWh | $427 |
| December | 7.06 m/s | 2,336 kWh | $445 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Calumet County averages 5.25 m/s; at 50 m it is 7.23 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.199, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 19,888 to 28,671 kWh a year, 44% 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 | 6.02 m/s | 19,888 kWh | 26 years |
| 30 m | 6.53 m/s | 23,637 kWh | 22 years |
| 40 m | 6.92 m/s | 26,440 kWh | 20 years |
| 50 m | 7.23 m/s | 28,671 kWh | 18 years |
Counties around Calumet County
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Manitowoc County, averages 7.32 m/s.
- Winnebago County, WI: 6.12 m/s, 20,594 kWh, payback 26 years (23 mi)
- Fond du Lac County, WI: 6.12 m/s, 20,594 kWh, payback 26 years (26 mi)
- Outagamie County, WI: 6.01 m/s, 19,778 kWh, payback 27 years (27 mi)
- Brown County, WI: 6.34 m/s, 22,225 kWh, payback 24 years (29 mi)
- Manitowoc County, WI: 7.32 m/s, 29,299 kWh, payback 18 years (32 mi)
- Sheboygan County, WI: 7.26 m/s, 28,881 kWh, payback 18 years (34 mi)
Sun versus wind in Calumet County
Calumet County gets 3.81 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,113 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,363. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 2.1 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.