Wind Turbine Payback in Kanawha County, WV
Wind turbine payback in Kanawha 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 Kanawha County, WV averages 3.28 m/s (7.3 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 3,506 kWh a year, worth $546 at WV's 15.58¢/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 Kanawha County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Kanawha County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.7 m/s at the hub against 3.28 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,150 kWh a year here against the turbine's 351, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 143¢/kWh, 9.2 times what WV pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.7 m/s instead of 3.28. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of WV
Kanawha County is the 2,773rd windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in WV is Preston County at 3.73 m/s, payback over 100 years.
Month by month in Kanawha County
January is the strongest month here, at 3.95 m/s and about 537 kWh. August is the weakest, 2.47 m/s and 109 kWh, so the best month makes 4.9 times the worst. November to March brings in 61% of the year's output in Kanawha County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.95 m/s | 537 kWh | $84 |
| February | 4.05 m/s | 525 kWh | $82 |
| March | 3.88 m/s | 508 kWh | $79 |
| April | 3.79 m/s | 458 kWh | $71 |
| May | 3.08 m/s | 243 kWh | $38 |
| June | 2.76 m/s | 160 kWh | $25 |
| July | 2.54 m/s | 121 kWh | $19 |
| August | 2.47 m/s | 109 kWh | $17 |
| September | 2.69 m/s | 145 kWh | $23 |
| October | 3.12 m/s | 253 kWh | $39 |
| November | 3.39 m/s | 322 kWh | $50 |
| December | 3.66 m/s | 422 kWh | $66 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Kanawha County averages 1.99 m/s; at 50 m it is 4.13 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.454, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 1,857 to 7,248 kWh a year, 290% 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 | 2.72 m/s | 1,857 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 3.28 m/s | 3,489 kWh | over 100 years |
| 40 m | 3.73 m/s | 5,307 kWh | over 100 years |
| 50 m | 4.13 m/s | 7,248 kWh | 89 years |
Counties around Kanawha County
1 of the 6 closest counties is windier at turbine height; the windiest, Fayette County, averages 3.4 m/s.
- Boone County, WV: 3.25 m/s, 3,402 kWh, payback over 100 years (23 mi)
- Putnam County, WV: 3.15 m/s, 3,067 kWh, payback over 100 years (24 mi)
- Clay County, WV: 3.28 m/s, 3,506 kWh, payback over 100 years (26 mi)
- Roane County, WV: 3.28 m/s, 3,506 kWh, payback over 100 years (30 mi)
- Fayette County, WV: 3.4 m/s, 3,942 kWh, payback over 100 years (31 mi)
- Lincoln County, WV: 3.25 m/s, 3,402 kWh, payback over 100 years (32 mi)
Sun versus wind in Kanawha County
Kanawha County gets 3.94 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,150 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 351. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 3.3 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.