Wind Turbine Payback in Iberia Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Iberia 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 Iberia Parish, LA averages 5.86 m/s (13.1 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 18,669 kWh a year, worth $2,477 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 40 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Iberia Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Iberia Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 5.86 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,402 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,867, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 27¢/kWh, 2.0 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 5.86. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Iberia Parish is the 1,034th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. It is the windiest county in LA.
Month by month in Iberia Parish
January is the strongest month here, at 7.08 m/s and about 2,343 kWh. July is the weakest, 4.07 m/s and 587 kWh, so the best month makes 4.0 times the worst. November to March brings in 57% of the year's output in Iberia Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.08 m/s | 2,343 kWh | $311 |
| February | 7.07 m/s | 2,111 kWh | $280 |
| March | 6.69 m/s | 2,107 kWh | $280 |
| April | 6.73 m/s | 2,061 kWh | $273 |
| May | 5.73 m/s | 1,505 kWh | $200 |
| June | 4.70 m/s | 867 kWh | $115 |
| July | 4.07 m/s | 587 kWh | $78 |
| August | 4.10 m/s | 603 kWh | $80 |
| September | 5.03 m/s | 1,044 kWh | $139 |
| October | 5.78 m/s | 1,534 kWh | $204 |
| November | 6.46 m/s | 1,903 kWh | $253 |
| December | 7.00 m/s | 2,298 kWh | $305 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Iberia Parish averages 5.14 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.23 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.119, typical of very open, smooth ground where height adds little. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,663 to 21,410 kWh a year, 28% 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 | 5.59 m/s | 16,663 kWh | 45 years |
| 30 m | 5.86 m/s | 18,688 kWh | 40 years |
| 40 m | 6.07 m/s | 20,199 kWh | 37 years |
| 50 m | 6.23 m/s | 21,410 kWh | 35 years |
Counties around Iberia Parish
None of the 6 closest counties is windier than Iberia Parish.
- St. Mary Parish, LA: 5.5 m/s, 16,037 kWh, payback 47 years (23 mi)
- Vermilion Parish, LA: 5.37 m/s, 15,105 kWh, payback 50 years (32 mi)
- St. Martin Parish, LA: 5.19 m/s, 13,837 kWh, payback 55 years (38 mi)
- Lafayette Parish, LA: 5.19 m/s, 13,837 kWh, payback 55 years (44 mi)
- Assumption Parish, LA: 4.84 m/s, 11,472 kWh, payback 66 years (51 mi)
- Iberville Parish, LA: 4.13 m/s, 7,248 kWh, payback over 100 years (54 mi)
Sun versus wind in Iberia Parish
Iberia Parish gets 4.8 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,402 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,867. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.3 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.