Wind Turbine Payback in Kittitas County, WA
Wind turbine payback in Kittitas 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 Kittitas County, WA averages 3.56 m/s (8 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 4,570 kWh a year, worth $659 at WA's 14.42¢/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 Kittitas County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Kittitas County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.1 m/s at the hub against 3.56 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,098 kWh a year here against the turbine's 457, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 109¢/kWh, 7.6 times what WA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.1 m/s instead of 3.56. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of WA
Kittitas County is the 2,451st windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in WA is Columbia County at 5.18 m/s, payback 50 years.
Month by month in Kittitas County
July is the strongest month here, at 3.91 m/s and about 519 kWh. December is the weakest, 3.16 m/s and 264 kWh, so the best month makes 2.0 times the worst. November to March brings in 35% of the year's output in Kittitas County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.21 m/s | 279 kWh | $40 |
| February | 3.48 m/s | 326 kWh | $47 |
| March | 3.77 m/s | 465 kWh | $67 |
| April | 3.78 m/s | 453 kWh | $65 |
| May | 3.68 m/s | 429 kWh | $62 |
| June | 3.88 m/s | 492 kWh | $71 |
| July | 3.91 m/s | 519 kWh | $75 |
| August | 3.66 m/s | 423 kWh | $61 |
| September | 3.47 m/s | 346 kWh | $50 |
| October | 3.44 m/s | 347 kWh | $50 |
| November | 3.33 m/s | 301 kWh | $43 |
| December | 3.16 m/s | 264 kWh | $38 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Kittitas County averages 2.53 m/s; at 50 m it is 4.18 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.312, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 3,036 to 7,515 kWh a year, 148% 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 | 3.14 m/s | 3,036 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 3.56 m/s | 4,588 kWh | over 100 years |
| 40 m | 3.9 m/s | 6,080 kWh | over 100 years |
| 50 m | 4.18 m/s | 7,515 kWh | 92 years |
Counties around Kittitas County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Grant County, averages 4.55 m/s.
- Yakima County, WA: 4.03 m/s, 6,729 kWh, payback over 100 years (46 mi)
- Chelan County, WA: 2.51 m/s, 1,371 kWh, payback over 100 years (51 mi)
- Grant County, WA: 4.55 m/s, 9,641 kWh, payback 72 years (57 mi)
- King County, WA: 2.75 m/s, 1,920 kWh, payback over 100 years (60 mi)
- Douglas County, WA: 3.61 m/s, 4,778 kWh, payback over 100 years (63 mi)
- Pierce County, WA: 2.87 m/s, 2,232 kWh, payback over 100 years (70 mi)
Sun versus wind in Kittitas County
Kittitas County gets 3.76 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,098 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 457. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 2.4 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.