Wind Turbine Payback in Crook County, WY
Wind turbine payback in Crook 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 Crook County, WY averages 5.61 m/s (12.5 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 16,834 kWh a year, worth $2,359 at WY's 14.01¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 42 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Crook County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Crook County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.3 m/s at the hub against 5.61 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,259 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,683, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 30¢/kWh, 2.1 times what WY pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.3 m/s instead of 5.61. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of WY
Crook County is the 1,161st 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 Crook County
January is the strongest month here, at 6.28 m/s and about 1,851 kWh. July is the weakest, 4.76 m/s and 933 kWh, so the best month makes 2.0 times the worst. November to March brings in 49% of the year's output in Crook County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.28 m/s | 1,851 kWh | $259 |
| February | 5.87 m/s | 1,438 kWh | $201 |
| March | 5.83 m/s | 1,570 kWh | $220 |
| April | 5.72 m/s | 1,450 kWh | $203 |
| May | 5.48 m/s | 1,352 kWh | $189 |
| June | 5.11 m/s | 1,090 kWh | $153 |
| July | 4.76 m/s | 933 kWh | $131 |
| August | 4.87 m/s | 991 kWh | $139 |
| September | 5.30 m/s | 1,200 kWh | $168 |
| October | 5.86 m/s | 1,586 kWh | $222 |
| November | 6.04 m/s | 1,642 kWh | $230 |
| December | 6.15 m/s | 1,768 kWh | $248 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Crook County averages 4.23 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.39 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.256, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 12,900 to 22,595 kWh a year, 75% 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 | 5.05 m/s | 12,900 kWh | 55 years |
| 30 m | 5.61 m/s | 16,810 kWh | 43 years |
| 40 m | 6.04 m/s | 19,965 kWh | 36 years |
| 50 m | 6.39 m/s | 22,595 kWh | 32 years |
Counties around Crook County
4 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Carter County, averages 6.54 m/s.
- Lawrence County, SD: 5.27 m/s, 14,397 kWh, payback 48 years (41 mi)
- Weston County, WY: 5.46 m/s, 15,749 kWh, payback 45 years (51 mi)
- Campbell County, WY: 6.03 m/s, 19,926 kWh, payback 36 years (54 mi)
- Butte County, SD: 6.15 m/s, 20,816 kWh, payback 33 years (56 mi)
- Carter County, MT: 6.54 m/s, 23,702 kWh, payback 30 years (64 mi)
- Powder River County, MT: 6.12 m/s, 20,594 kWh, payback 34 years (74 mi)
Sun versus wind in Crook County
Crook County gets 4.31 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,259 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,683. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.3 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.