Wind Turbine Payback in Carbon County, WY
Wind turbine payback in Carbon 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 Carbon County, WY averages 6.1 m/s (13.6 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 20,446 kWh a year, worth $2,864 at WY's 14.01¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 35 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Carbon County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Carbon County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.3 m/s at the hub against 6.1 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,361 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,045, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 24¢/kWh, 1.7 times what WY pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.3 m/s instead of 6.1. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of WY
Carbon County is the 685th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in WY is Albany County at 7.32 m/s, payback 24 years.
Month by month in Carbon County
January is the strongest month here, at 7.38 m/s and about 2,521 kWh. July is the weakest, 4.67 m/s and 879 kWh, so the best month makes 2.9 times the worst. November to March brings in 55% of the year's output in Carbon County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.38 m/s | 2,521 kWh | $353 |
| February | 6.92 m/s | 2,030 kWh | $284 |
| March | 6.61 m/s | 2,058 kWh | $288 |
| April | 6.17 m/s | 1,720 kWh | $241 |
| May | 5.41 m/s | 1,308 kWh | $183 |
| June | 5.45 m/s | 1,286 kWh | $180 |
| July | 4.67 m/s | 879 kWh | $123 |
| August | 4.80 m/s | 951 kWh | $133 |
| September | 5.46 m/s | 1,297 kWh | $182 |
| October | 6.21 m/s | 1,805 kWh | $253 |
| November | 6.97 m/s | 2,206 kWh | $309 |
| December | 7.26 m/s | 2,454 kWh | $344 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Carbon County averages 4.6 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.96 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.257, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,035 to 26,756 kWh a year, 67% 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 | 5.5 m/s | 16,035 kWh | 45 years |
| 30 m | 6.1 m/s | 20,473 kWh | 35 years |
| 40 m | 6.57 m/s | 23,937 kWh | 30 years |
| 50 m | 6.96 m/s | 26,756 kWh | 27 years |
Counties around Carbon County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Albany County, averages 7.32 m/s.
- Albany County, WY: 7.32 m/s, 29,299 kWh, payback 24 years (63 mi)
- Jackson County, CO: 3.69 m/s, 5,121 kWh, payback over 100 years (78 mi)
- Routt County, CO: 3.63 m/s, 4,862 kWh, payback over 100 years (84 mi)
- Natrona County, WY: 6.38 m/s, 22,521 kWh, payback 32 years (88 mi)
- Sweetwater County, WY: 6.42 m/s, 22,817 kWh, payback 31 years (100 mi)
- Moffat County, CO: 5.05 m/s, 12,873 kWh, payback 46 years (101 mi)
Sun versus wind in Carbon County
Carbon County 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 2,045. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.5 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.