Wind Turbine Payback in Cibola County, NM
Wind turbine payback in Cibola 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 Cibola County, NM averages 5.8 m/s (13 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 18,226 kWh a year, worth $2,796 at NM's 15.34¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 36 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Cibola County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Cibola County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.8 m/s at the hub against 5.8 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,621 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,823, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 27¢/kWh, 1.8 times what NM pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.8 m/s instead of 5.8. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of NM
Cibola County is the 1,064th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in NM is Union County at 6.75 m/s, payback 26 years.
Month by month in Cibola County
April is the strongest month here, at 7.27 m/s and about 2,377 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.04 m/s and 576 kWh, so the best month makes 4.1 times the worst. November to March brings in 49% of the year's output in Cibola County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.96 m/s | 1,647 kWh | $253 |
| February | 6.68 m/s | 1,894 kWh | $291 |
| March | 6.74 m/s | 2,136 kWh | $328 |
| April | 7.27 m/s | 2,377 kWh | $365 |
| May | 6.39 m/s | 1,918 kWh | $294 |
| June | 5.83 m/s | 1,518 kWh | $233 |
| July | 4.18 m/s | 636 kWh | $98 |
| August | 4.04 m/s | 576 kWh | $88 |
| September | 4.87 m/s | 961 kWh | $147 |
| October | 5.69 m/s | 1,479 kWh | $227 |
| November | 5.97 m/s | 1,600 kWh | $245 |
| December | 6.10 m/s | 1,738 kWh | $267 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Cibola County averages 4.58 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.47 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.215, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 14,701 to 23,186 kWh a year, 58% 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 | 5.31 m/s | 14,701 kWh | 44 years |
| 30 m | 5.8 m/s | 18,204 kWh | 36 years |
| 40 m | 6.17 m/s | 20,942 kWh | 31 years |
| 50 m | 6.47 m/s | 23,186 kWh | 28 years |
Counties around Cibola County
None of the 6 closest counties is windier than Cibola County.
- McKinley County, NM: 5.51 m/s, 16,109 kWh, payback 41 years (48 mi)
- Valencia County, NM: 4.65 m/s, 10,257 kWh, payback 64 years (69 mi)
- Catron County, NM: 5.45 m/s, 15,677 kWh, payback 42 years (74 mi)
- Bernalillo County, NM: 4.45 m/s, 9,041 kWh, payback 72 years (75 mi)
- Sandoval County, NM: 5 m/s, 12,535 kWh, payback 52 years (82 mi)
- Socorro County, NM: 5.09 m/s, 13,146 kWh, payback 50 years (88 mi)
Sun versus wind in Cibola County
Cibola County gets 5.55 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,621 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,823. 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.