Wind Turbine Payback in Hyde County, NC
Wind turbine payback in Hyde 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 Hyde County, NC averages 5.79 m/s (13 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 18,153 kWh a year, worth $2,712 at NC's 14.94¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 37 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Hyde County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Hyde County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.9 m/s at the hub against 5.79 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,288 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,815, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 28¢/kWh, 1.8 times what NC pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.9 m/s instead of 5.79. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of NC
Hyde County is the 1,080th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in NC is Dare County at 6.91 m/s, payback 25 years.
Month by month in Hyde County
March is the strongest month here, at 6.55 m/s and about 2,017 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.62 m/s and 855 kWh, so the best month makes 2.4 times the worst. November to March brings in 50% of the year's output in Hyde County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.44 m/s | 1,949 kWh | $291 |
| February | 6.54 m/s | 1,817 kWh | $271 |
| March | 6.55 m/s | 2,017 kWh | $301 |
| April | 6.55 m/s | 1,952 kWh | $292 |
| May | 5.73 m/s | 1,507 kWh | $225 |
| June | 5.14 m/s | 1,109 kWh | $166 |
| July | 5.03 m/s | 1,082 kWh | $162 |
| August | 4.62 m/s | 855 kWh | $128 |
| September | 5.33 m/s | 1,220 kWh | $182 |
| October | 5.51 m/s | 1,366 kWh | $204 |
| November | 5.94 m/s | 1,586 kWh | $237 |
| December | 6.15 m/s | 1,765 kWh | $264 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Hyde County averages 4.76 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.34 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.178, typical of very open, smooth ground where height adds little. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 15,218 to 22,225 kWh a year, 46% 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 | 5.39 m/s | 15,218 kWh | 44 years |
| 30 m | 5.79 m/s | 18,145 kWh | 37 years |
| 40 m | 6.09 m/s | 20,394 kWh | 33 years |
| 50 m | 6.34 m/s | 22,225 kWh | 30 years |
Counties around Hyde County
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Dare County, averages 6.91 m/s.
- Dare County, NC: 6.91 m/s, 26,397 kWh, payback 25 years (26 mi)
- Tyrrell County, NC: 4.97 m/s, 12,333 kWh, payback 54 years (32 mi)
- Pamlico County, NC: 4.81 m/s, 11,276 kWh, payback 59 years (34 mi)
- Washington County, NC: 4.96 m/s, 12,266 kWh, payback 55 years (38 mi)
- Beaufort County, NC: 4.7 m/s, 10,571 kWh, payback 63 years (39 mi)
- Carteret County, NC: 6.24 m/s, 21,484 kWh, payback 31 years (44 mi)
Sun versus wind in Hyde County
Hyde County gets 4.41 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,288 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,815. 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.