Wind Turbine Payback in Lake and Peninsula Borough, AK
Wind turbine payback in Lake and Peninsula Borough
Only just. The money comes back late in the turbine's life.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Lake and Peninsula Borough, AK averages 6.45 m/s (14.4 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 23,038 kWh a year, worth $6,294 at AK's 27.32¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 16 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Lake and Peninsula Borough
It is close enough that your own site decides it. If you have open land with no trees or buildings upwind, ask an installer to log the wind at 30 m or higher; anything above 5.8 m/s pays back in time. Per kW, solar panels would make about 750 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,304, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power already costs enough here: break-even is 22¢/kWh and AK pays 27.32¢.
- The wind clears the break-even speed of 5.8 m/s at today's price.
Against the rest of AK
Lake and Peninsula Borough is the 257th 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 Lake and Peninsula Borough
January is the strongest month here, at 7.60 m/s and about 2,651 kWh. June is the weakest, 4.99 m/s and 1,026 kWh, so the best month makes 2.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 53% of the year's output in Lake and Peninsula Borough.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.60 m/s | 2,651 kWh | $724 |
| February | 7.45 m/s | 2,318 kWh | $633 |
| March | 6.82 m/s | 2,188 kWh | $598 |
| April | 6.47 m/s | 1,908 kWh | $521 |
| May | 5.68 m/s | 1,473 kWh | $402 |
| June | 4.99 m/s | 1,026 kWh | $280 |
| July | 5.09 m/s | 1,119 kWh | $306 |
| August | 5.47 m/s | 1,343 kWh | $367 |
| September | 6.31 m/s | 1,808 kWh | $494 |
| October | 6.76 m/s | 2,149 kWh | $587 |
| November | 7.21 m/s | 2,343 kWh | $640 |
| December | 7.59 m/s | 2,645 kWh | $723 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Lake and Peninsula Borough averages 5.32 m/s; at 50 m it is 7.05 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.175, typical of very open, smooth ground where height adds little. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 19,745 to 27,400 kWh a year, 39% 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 | 6.01 m/s | 19,745 kWh | 19 years |
| 30 m | 6.45 m/s | 23,017 kWh | 16 years |
| 40 m | 6.78 m/s | 25,457 kWh | 14 years |
| 50 m | 7.05 m/s | 27,400 kWh | 13 years |
Counties around Lake and Peninsula Borough
1 of the 6 closest counties is windier at turbine height; the windiest, Aleutians East Borough, averages 7.73 m/s.
- Bristol Bay Borough, AK: 6.2 m/s, 21,187 kWh, payback 17 years (48 mi)
- Kodiak Island Borough, AK: 5.87 m/s, 18,742 kWh, payback 20 years (96 mi)
- Dillingham Census Area, AK: 6.07 m/s, 20,223 kWh, payback 18 years (119 mi)
- Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK: 3.87 m/s, 5,942 kWh, payback 62 years (213 mi)
- Bethel Census Area, AK: 5.27 m/s, 14,397 kWh, payback 25 years (235 mi)
- Aleutians East Borough, AK: 7.73 m/s, 32,079 kWh, payback 11 years (290 mi)
Sun versus wind in Lake and Peninsula Borough
Lake and Peninsula Borough gets 2.57 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 750 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,304. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 3.1 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.