Wind Turbine Payback in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK
Wind turbine payback in Ketchikan Gateway Borough
No. The turbine wears out before it pays for itself.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, AK averages 3.71 m/s (8.3 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 5,209 kWh a year, worth $1,423 at AK's 27.32¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 70 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Ketchikan Gateway Borough
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Ketchikan Gateway Borough unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 5.8 m/s at the hub against 3.71 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 710 kWh a year here against the turbine's 521, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 96¢/kWh, 3.5 times what AK pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 5.8 m/s instead of 3.71. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of AK
Ketchikan Gateway Borough is the 2,280th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in AK is Aleutians West Census Area at 9.35 m/s, payback 9 years.
Month by month in Ketchikan Gateway Borough
January is the strongest month here, at 4.83 m/s and about 970 kWh. July is the weakest, 2.74 m/s and 162 kWh, so the best month makes 6.0 times the worst. November to March brings in 65% of the year's output in Ketchikan Gateway Borough.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.83 m/s | 970 kWh | $265 |
| February | 4.15 m/s | 564 kWh | $154 |
| March | 4.16 m/s | 629 kWh | $172 |
| April | 3.60 m/s | 389 kWh | $106 |
| May | 3.06 m/s | 236 kWh | $64 |
| June | 2.87 m/s | 185 kWh | $51 |
| July | 2.74 m/s | 162 kWh | $44 |
| August | 2.86 m/s | 187 kWh | $51 |
| September | 3.38 m/s | 318 kWh | $87 |
| October | 3.92 m/s | 527 kWh | $144 |
| November | 4.38 m/s | 709 kWh | $194 |
| December | 4.65 m/s | 871 kWh | $238 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Ketchikan Gateway Borough averages 2.78 m/s; at 50 m it is 4.25 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.264, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 3,709 to 7,897 kWh a year, 113% 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 | 3.34 m/s | 3,709 kWh | 99 years |
| 30 m | 3.71 m/s | 5,225 kWh | 70 years |
| 40 m | 4.01 m/s | 6,612 kWh | 55 years |
| 50 m | 4.25 m/s | 7,897 kWh | 46 years |
Counties around Ketchikan Gateway Borough
5 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Sitka City and Borough, averages 6.4 m/s.
- Wrangell City and Borough, AK: 3.57 m/s, 4,612 kWh, payback 79 years (62 mi)
- Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area, AK: 4.32 m/s, 8,289 kWh, payback 44 years (82 mi)
- Petersburg Borough, AK: 3.97 m/s, 6,428 kWh, payback 57 years (136 mi)
- Sitka City and Borough, AK: 6.4 m/s, 22,669 kWh, payback 16 years (203 mi)
- Juneau City and Borough, AK: 3.89 m/s, 6,037 kWh, payback 61 years (233 mi)
- Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, AK: 4.48 m/s, 9,219 kWh, payback 40 years (272 mi)
Sun versus wind in Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Ketchikan Gateway Borough gets 2.43 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 710 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 521. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 1.4 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.