Wind Turbine Payback in Douglas County, KS
Wind turbine payback in Douglas 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 Douglas County, KS averages 6.06 m/s (13.6 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 20,149 kWh a year, worth $3,075 at KS's 15.26¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 33 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Douglas County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Douglas County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.8 m/s at the hub against 6.06 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,276 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,015, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 25¢/kWh, 1.6 times what KS pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.8 m/s instead of 6.06. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of KS
Douglas County is the 747th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in KS is Edwards County at 6.68 m/s, payback 27 years.
Month by month in Douglas County
April is the strongest month here, at 7.03 m/s and about 2,240 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.80 m/s and 952 kWh, so the best month makes 2.4 times the worst. November to March brings in 48% of the year's output in Douglas County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.40 m/s | 1,924 kWh | $294 |
| February | 6.39 m/s | 1,733 kWh | $264 |
| March | 6.77 m/s | 2,157 kWh | $329 |
| April | 7.03 m/s | 2,240 kWh | $342 |
| May | 6.11 m/s | 1,745 kWh | $266 |
| June | 5.74 m/s | 1,462 kWh | $223 |
| July | 4.85 m/s | 981 kWh | $150 |
| August | 4.80 m/s | 952 kWh | $145 |
| September | 5.54 m/s | 1,340 kWh | $204 |
| October | 6.33 m/s | 1,880 kWh | $287 |
| November | 6.59 m/s | 1,981 kWh | $302 |
| December | 6.28 m/s | 1,852 kWh | $283 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Douglas County averages 4.7 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.82 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.231, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,174 to 25,747 kWh a year, 59% 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 | 5.52 m/s | 16,174 kWh | 41 years |
| 30 m | 6.06 m/s | 20,156 kWh | 33 years |
| 40 m | 6.48 m/s | 23,240 kWh | 28 years |
| 50 m | 6.82 m/s | 25,747 kWh | 26 years |
Counties around Douglas County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Osage County, averages 6.22 m/s.
- Franklin County, KS: 6.06 m/s, 20,149 kWh, payback 33 years (23 mi)
- Jefferson County, KS: 6.15 m/s, 20,816 kWh, payback 32 years (24 mi)
- Leavenworth County, KS: 6.06 m/s, 20,149 kWh, payback 33 years (24 mi)
- Johnson County, KS: 6.06 m/s, 20,149 kWh, payback 33 years (25 mi)
- Shawnee County, KS: 6.15 m/s, 20,816 kWh, payback 32 years (27 mi)
- Osage County, KS: 6.22 m/s, 21,336 kWh, payback 31 years (28 mi)
Sun versus wind in Douglas County
Douglas County gets 4.37 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,276 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,015. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.6 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.