Wind Turbine Payback in Goshen County, WY
Wind turbine payback in Goshen 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 Goshen County, WY averages 6.38 m/s (14.3 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 22,521 kWh a year, worth $3,155 at WY's 14.01¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 32 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Goshen County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Goshen County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.3 m/s at the hub against 6.38 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,311 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,252, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 22¢/kWh, 1.6 times what WY pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.3 m/s instead of 6.38. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of WY
Goshen County is the 359th 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 Goshen County
January is the strongest month here, at 7.72 m/s and about 2,718 kWh. July is the weakest, 5.04 m/s and 1,089 kWh, so the best month makes 2.5 times the worst. November to March brings in 54% of the year's output in Goshen County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.72 m/s | 2,718 kWh | $381 |
| February | 7.17 m/s | 2,165 kWh | $303 |
| March | 6.91 m/s | 2,240 kWh | $314 |
| April | 6.55 m/s | 1,954 kWh | $274 |
| May | 5.82 m/s | 1,559 kWh | $218 |
| June | 5.41 m/s | 1,264 kWh | $177 |
| July | 5.04 m/s | 1,089 kWh | $153 |
| August | 5.08 m/s | 1,109 kWh | $155 |
| September | 5.62 m/s | 1,391 kWh | $195 |
| October | 6.51 m/s | 1,991 kWh | $279 |
| November | 7.17 m/s | 2,324 kWh | $326 |
| December | 7.55 m/s | 2,622 kWh | $367 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Goshen County averages 4.99 m/s; at 50 m it is 7.15 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 18,437 to 28,109 kWh a year, 52% 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 | 5.83 m/s | 18,437 kWh | 39 years |
| 30 m | 6.38 m/s | 22,522 kWh | 32 years |
| 40 m | 6.8 m/s | 25,623 kWh | 28 years |
| 50 m | 7.15 m/s | 28,109 kWh | 25 years |
Counties around Goshen County
4 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Platte County, averages 7.03 m/s.
- Platte County, WY: 7.03 m/s, 27,257 kWh, payback 26 years (31 mi)
- Scotts Bluff County, NE: 6.25 m/s, 21,558 kWh, payback 36 years (37 mi)
- Sioux County, NE: 6.51 m/s, 23,481 kWh, payback 33 years (41 mi)
- Banner County, NE: 6.44 m/s, 22,964 kWh, payback 34 years (50 mi)
- Laramie County, WY: 6.76 m/s, 25,311 kWh, payback 28 years (57 mi)
- Box Butte County, NE: 6.38 m/s, 22,521 kWh, payback 34 years (66 mi)
Sun versus wind in Goshen County
Goshen County gets 4.49 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,311 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,252. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.7 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.