Wind Turbine Payback in Caribou County, ID
Wind turbine payback in Caribou 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 Caribou County, ID averages 3.51 m/s (7.9 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 4,368 kWh a year, worth $569 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 Caribou County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Caribou County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.7 m/s at the hub against 3.51 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,326 kWh a year here against the turbine's 437, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 114¢/kWh, 8.8 times what ID pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.7 m/s instead of 3.51. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of ID
Caribou County is the 2,496th 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 Caribou County
March is the strongest month here, at 3.93 m/s and about 527 kWh. July is the weakest, 3.08 m/s and 242 kWh, so the best month makes 2.2 times the worst. November to March brings in 52% of the year's output in Caribou County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.82 m/s | 484 kWh | $63 |
| February | 3.92 m/s | 473 kWh | $62 |
| March | 3.93 m/s | 527 kWh | $69 |
| April | 3.68 m/s | 416 kWh | $54 |
| May | 3.30 m/s | 305 kWh | $40 |
| June | 3.33 m/s | 303 kWh | $39 |
| July | 3.08 m/s | 242 kWh | $32 |
| August | 3.13 m/s | 255 kWh | $33 |
| September | 3.25 m/s | 281 kWh | $37 |
| October | 3.37 m/s | 326 kWh | $42 |
| November | 3.63 m/s | 399 kWh | $52 |
| December | 3.73 m/s | 449 kWh | $58 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Caribou County averages 2.34 m/s; at 50 m it is 4.24 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.369, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 2,671 to 7,842 kWh a year, 194% 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 | 3.02 m/s | 2,671 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 3.51 m/s | 4,375 kWh | over 100 years |
| 40 m | 3.9 m/s | 6,109 kWh | over 100 years |
| 50 m | 4.24 m/s | 7,842 kWh | 98 years |
Counties around Caribou County
5 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Bonneville County, averages 5.09 m/s.
- Bannock County, ID: 4.31 m/s, 8,233 kWh, payback 93 years (35 mi)
- Bear Lake County, ID: 3.5 m/s, 4,329 kWh, payback over 100 years (36 mi)
- Bonneville County, ID: 5.09 m/s, 13,146 kWh, payback 58 years (42 mi)
- Franklin County, ID: 3.67 m/s, 5,034 kWh, payback over 100 years (45 mi)
- Bingham County, ID: 4.82 m/s, 11,341 kWh, payback 68 years (52 mi)
- Lincoln County, WY: 4.83 m/s, 11,407 kWh, payback 63 years (58 mi)
Sun versus wind in Caribou County
Caribou County gets 4.54 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,326 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 437. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 3.0 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.