Wind Turbine Payback in Genesee County, MI
Wind turbine payback in Genesee 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 Genesee County, MI averages 6.13 m/s (13.7 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 20,668 kWh a year, worth $4,491 at MI's 21.73¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 22 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Genesee County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Genesee County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 6.4 m/s at the hub against 6.13 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,080 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,067, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 24¢/kWh, 1.1 times what MI pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 6.4 m/s instead of 6.13. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of MI
Genesee County is the 658th 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 Genesee County
January is the strongest month here, at 6.90 m/s and about 2,234 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.86 m/s and 987 kWh, so the best month makes 2.3 times the worst. November to March brings in 51% of the year's output in Genesee County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.90 m/s | 2,234 kWh | $485 |
| February | 6.92 m/s | 2,028 kWh | $441 |
| March | 6.61 m/s | 2,058 kWh | $447 |
| April | 6.84 m/s | 2,131 kWh | $463 |
| May | 5.93 m/s | 1,626 kWh | $353 |
| June | 5.32 m/s | 1,211 kWh | $263 |
| July | 4.87 m/s | 992 kWh | $216 |
| August | 4.86 m/s | 987 kWh | $214 |
| September | 5.46 m/s | 1,295 kWh | $281 |
| October | 6.51 m/s | 1,991 kWh | $433 |
| November | 6.76 m/s | 2,083 kWh | $453 |
| December | 6.69 m/s | 2,108 kWh | $458 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Genesee County averages 4.8 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.87 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.223, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,764 to 26,109 kWh a year, 56% 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 | 5.6 m/s | 16,764 kWh | 28 years |
| 30 m | 6.13 m/s | 20,671 kWh | 22 years |
| 40 m | 6.54 m/s | 23,676 kWh | 19 years |
| 50 m | 6.87 m/s | 26,109 kWh | 18 years |
Counties around Genesee County
4 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Tuscola County, averages 6.5 m/s.
- Shiawassee County, MI: 6.06 m/s, 20,149 kWh, payback 23 years (23 mi)
- Lapeer County, MI: 6.23 m/s, 21,410 kWh, payback 22 years (25 mi)
- Saginaw County, MI: 6.17 m/s, 20,965 kWh, payback 22 years (28 mi)
- Oakland County, MI: 6.17 m/s, 20,965 kWh, payback 22 years (30 mi)
- Livingston County, MI: 6.09 m/s, 20,371 kWh, payback 23 years (31 mi)
- Tuscola County, MI: 6.5 m/s, 23,407 kWh, payback 20 years (35 mi)
Sun versus wind in Genesee County
Genesee County gets 3.7 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,080 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,067. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.9 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.