Wind Turbine Payback in Grant Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Grant Parish
No. The turbine wears out before it pays for itself.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Grant Parish, LA averages 3.39 m/s (7.6 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 3,905 kWh a year, worth $518 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of over 100 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Grant Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Grant Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 3.39 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,337 kWh a year here against the turbine's 391, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 128¢/kWh, 9.6 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 3.39. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Grant Parish is the 2,638th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in LA is Iberia Parish at 5.86 m/s, payback 40 years.
Month by month in Grant Parish
April is the strongest month here, at 3.91 m/s and about 506 kWh. July is the weakest, 2.69 m/s and 151 kWh, so the best month makes 3.4 times the worst. November to March brings in 52% of the year's output in Grant Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.63 m/s | 414 kWh | $55 |
| February | 3.78 m/s | 423 kWh | $56 |
| March | 3.83 m/s | 490 kWh | $65 |
| April | 3.91 m/s | 506 kWh | $67 |
| May | 3.44 m/s | 349 kWh | $46 |
| June | 2.98 m/s | 209 kWh | $28 |
| July | 2.69 m/s | 151 kWh | $20 |
| August | 2.78 m/s | 169 kWh | $22 |
| September | 3.08 m/s | 232 kWh | $31 |
| October | 3.35 m/s | 318 kWh | $42 |
| November | 3.55 m/s | 374 kWh | $50 |
| December | 3.63 m/s | 412 kWh | $55 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Grant Parish averages 2.09 m/s; at 50 m it is 4.24 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.440, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 2,134 to 7,842 kWh a year, 267% 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 | 2.83 m/s | 2,134 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 3.39 m/s | 3,892 kWh | over 100 years |
| 40 m | 3.84 m/s | 5,817 kWh | over 100 years |
| 50 m | 4.24 m/s | 7,842 kWh | 96 years |
Counties around Grant Parish
4 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Caldwell Parish, averages 4.29 m/s.
- Winn Parish, LA: 3.19 m/s, 3,198 kWh, payback over 100 years (24 mi)
- LaSalle Parish, LA: 4.14 m/s, 7,301 kWh, payback over 100 years (24 mi)
- Rapides Parish, LA: 3.85 m/s, 5,847 kWh, payback over 100 years (28 mi)
- Natchitoches Parish, LA: 3.32 m/s, 3,648 kWh, payback over 100 years (32 mi)
- Catahoula Parish, LA: 4.14 m/s, 7,301 kWh, payback over 100 years (42 mi)
- Caldwell Parish, LA: 4.29 m/s, 8,120 kWh, payback 93 years (44 mi)
Sun versus wind in Grant Parish
Grant Parish gets 4.58 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,337 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 391. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 3.4 times as much here as the turbine. 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.