Wind Turbine Payback in Guadalupe County, NM
Wind turbine payback in Guadalupe 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 Guadalupe County, NM averages 6.34 m/s (14.2 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 22,225 kWh a year, worth $3,409 at NM's 15.34¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 29 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Guadalupe County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Guadalupe County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.8 m/s at the hub against 6.34 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,626 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,223, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 22¢/kWh, 1.5 times what NM pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.8 m/s instead of 6.34. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of NM
Guadalupe County is the 420th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in NM is Union County at 6.75 m/s, payback 26 years.
Month by month in Guadalupe County
April is the strongest month here, at 7.34 m/s and about 2,419 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.73 m/s and 915 kWh, so the best month makes 2.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 51% of the year's output in Guadalupe County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.03 m/s | 2,314 kWh | $355 |
| February | 7.20 m/s | 2,182 kWh | $335 |
| March | 7.17 m/s | 2,399 kWh | $368 |
| April | 7.34 m/s | 2,419 kWh | $371 |
| May | 6.56 m/s | 2,023 kWh | $310 |
| June | 5.85 m/s | 1,531 kWh | $235 |
| July | 4.75 m/s | 925 kWh | $142 |
| August | 4.73 m/s | 915 kWh | $140 |
| September | 5.44 m/s | 1,280 kWh | $196 |
| October | 6.24 m/s | 1,822 kWh | $279 |
| November | 6.82 m/s | 2,118 kWh | $325 |
| December | 7.13 m/s | 2,373 kWh | $364 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Guadalupe County averages 4.93 m/s; at 50 m it is 7.13 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.229, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 18,082 to 27,967 kWh a year, 55% 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 | 5.78 m/s | 18,082 kWh | 36 years |
| 30 m | 6.34 m/s | 22,246 kWh | 29 years |
| 40 m | 6.77 m/s | 25,419 kWh | 26 years |
| 50 m | 7.13 m/s | 27,967 kWh | 23 years |
Counties around Guadalupe County
1 of the 6 closest counties is windier at turbine height; the windiest, Torrance County, averages 6.4 m/s.
- San Miguel County, NM: 6 m/s, 19,704 kWh, payback 33 years (42 mi)
- De Baca County, NM: 6.1 m/s, 20,446 kWh, payback 32 years (42 mi)
- Torrance County, NM: 6.4 m/s, 22,669 kWh, payback 29 years (66 mi)
- Quay County, NM: 6.32 m/s, 22,077 kWh, payback 30 years (72 mi)
- Mora County, NM: 5.15 m/s, 13,560 kWh, payback 48 years (77 mi)
- Santa Fe County, NM: 4.59 m/s, 9,885 kWh, payback 66 years (80 mi)
Sun versus wind in Guadalupe County
Guadalupe County gets 5.57 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,626 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,223. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.4 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.