Wind Turbine Payback in Kinney County, TX
Wind turbine payback in Kinney 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 Kinney County, TX averages 5.78 m/s (12.9 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 18,079 kWh a year, worth $2,898 at TX's 16.03¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 35 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Kinney County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Kinney County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.6 m/s at the hub against 5.78 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,460 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,808, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 28¢/kWh, 1.7 times what TX pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.6 m/s instead of 5.78. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of TX
Kinney County is the 1,085th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in TX is Dallam County at 6.82 m/s, payback 24 years.
Month by month in Kinney County
April is the strongest month here, at 6.46 m/s and about 1,898 kWh. September is the weakest, 5.22 m/s and 1,154 kWh, so the best month makes 1.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 39% of the year's output in Kinney County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.36 m/s | 1,279 kWh | $205 |
| February | 5.73 m/s | 1,359 kWh | $218 |
| March | 6.13 m/s | 1,753 kWh | $281 |
| April | 6.46 m/s | 1,898 kWh | $304 |
| May | 6.32 m/s | 1,877 kWh | $301 |
| June | 6.22 m/s | 1,756 kWh | $281 |
| July | 5.90 m/s | 1,612 kWh | $258 |
| August | 5.52 m/s | 1,372 kWh | $220 |
| September | 5.22 m/s | 1,154 kWh | $185 |
| October | 5.62 m/s | 1,438 kWh | $231 |
| November | 5.53 m/s | 1,338 kWh | $214 |
| December | 5.31 m/s | 1,247 kWh | $200 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Kinney County averages 4.57 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.44 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.213, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 14,595 to 22,964 kWh a year, 57% 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 | 5.3 m/s | 14,595 kWh | 43 years |
| 30 m | 5.78 m/s | 18,050 kWh | 35 years |
| 40 m | 6.14 m/s | 20,750 kWh | 30 years |
| 50 m | 6.44 m/s | 22,964 kWh | 27 years |
Counties around Kinney County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Edwards County, averages 6.07 m/s.
- Uvalde County, TX: 5.61 m/s, 16,834 kWh, payback 37 years (39 mi)
- Maverick County, TX: 5.24 m/s, 14,186 kWh, payback 44 years (43 mi)
- Edwards County, TX: 6.07 m/s, 20,223 kWh, payback 31 years (45 mi)
- Real County, TX: 6.07 m/s, 20,223 kWh, payback 31 years (49 mi)
- Zavala County, TX: 5.32 m/s, 14,750 kWh, payback 42 years (52 mi)
- Val Verde County, TX: 6.01 m/s, 19,778 kWh, payback 32 years (57 mi)
Sun versus wind in Kinney County
Kinney County gets 5 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,460 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,808. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.2 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.