Wind Turbine Payback in Cheboygan County, MI
Wind turbine payback in Cheboygan 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 Cheboygan County, MI averages 5.44 m/s (12.2 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 15,605 kWh a year, worth $3,391 at MI's 21.73¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 30 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Cheboygan County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Cheboygan County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 6.4 m/s at the hub against 5.44 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,037 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,561, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 32¢/kWh, 1.5 times what MI pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 6.4 m/s instead of 5.44. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of MI
Cheboygan County is the 1,249th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in MI is Keweenaw County at 7.4 m/s, payback 15 years.
Month by month in Cheboygan County
January is the strongest month here, at 6.34 m/s and about 1,886 kWh. June is the weakest, 4.33 m/s and 684 kWh, so the best month makes 2.8 times the worst. November to March brings in 55% of the year's output in Cheboygan County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.34 m/s | 1,886 kWh | $410 |
| February | 6.51 m/s | 1,799 kWh | $391 |
| March | 5.83 m/s | 1,568 kWh | $341 |
| April | 5.71 m/s | 1,443 kWh | $314 |
| May | 4.87 m/s | 989 kWh | $215 |
| June | 4.33 m/s | 684 kWh | $149 |
| July | 4.35 m/s | 720 kWh | $156 |
| August | 4.52 m/s | 804 kWh | $175 |
| September | 4.96 m/s | 1,005 kWh | $218 |
| October | 5.68 m/s | 1,474 kWh | $320 |
| November | 6.04 m/s | 1,642 kWh | $357 |
| December | 6.21 m/s | 1,808 kWh | $393 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Cheboygan County averages 4.2 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.14 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.236, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 12,172 to 20,742 kWh a year, 70% 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 | 12,172 kWh | 38 years |
| 30 m | 5.44 m/s | 15,624 kWh | 30 years |
| 40 m | 5.83 m/s | 18,411 kWh | 25 years |
| 50 m | 6.14 m/s | 20,742 kWh | 22 years |
Counties around Cheboygan County
4 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Presque Isle County, averages 7.25 m/s.
- Emmet County, MI: 6.4 m/s, 22,669 kWh, payback 20 years (25 mi)
- Otsego County, MI: 4.66 m/s, 10,320 kWh, payback 45 years (32 mi)
- Montmorency County, MI: 4.66 m/s, 10,320 kWh, payback 45 years (36 mi)
- Antrim County, MI: 6.06 m/s, 20,149 kWh, payback 23 years (46 mi)
- Charlevoix County, MI: 7.15 m/s, 28,109 kWh, payback 16 years (52 mi)
- Presque Isle County, MI: 7.25 m/s, 28,811 kWh, payback 16 years (54 mi)
Sun versus wind in Cheboygan County
Cheboygan County gets 3.55 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,037 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,561. 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.