Wind Turbine Payback in Lake County, IN
Wind turbine payback in Lake 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 Lake County, IN averages 6.17 m/s (13.8 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 20,965 kWh a year, worth $3,572 at IN's 17.04¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 28 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Lake County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Lake County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.3 m/s at the hub against 6.17 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,121 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,097, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 24¢/kWh, 1.4 times what IN pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.3 m/s instead of 6.17. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of IN
Lake County is the 608th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. It is the windiest county in IN.
Month by month in Lake County
January is the strongest month here, at 6.98 m/s and about 2,283 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.70 m/s and 898 kWh, so the best month makes 2.5 times the worst. November to March brings in 51% of the year's output in Lake County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.98 m/s | 2,283 kWh | $389 |
| February | 6.84 m/s | 1,988 kWh | $339 |
| March | 6.74 m/s | 2,140 kWh | $365 |
| April | 6.97 m/s | 2,204 kWh | $376 |
| May | 6.13 m/s | 1,758 kWh | $300 |
| June | 5.30 m/s | 1,201 kWh | $205 |
| July | 4.74 m/s | 922 kWh | $157 |
| August | 4.70 m/s | 898 kWh | $153 |
| September | 5.47 m/s | 1,301 kWh | $222 |
| October | 6.50 m/s | 1,990 kWh | $339 |
| November | 6.90 m/s | 2,162 kWh | $368 |
| December | 6.77 m/s | 2,157 kWh | $368 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Lake County averages 4.88 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.88 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 17,200 to 26,181 kWh a year, 52% 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 | 5.66 m/s | 17,200 kWh | 34 years |
| 30 m | 6.17 m/s | 20,970 kWh | 28 years |
| 40 m | 6.56 m/s | 23,853 kWh | 25 years |
| 50 m | 6.88 m/s | 26,181 kWh | 22 years |
Counties around Lake County
1 of the 6 closest counties is windier at turbine height; the windiest, Cook County, averages 6.73 m/s.
- Porter County, IN: 6.1 m/s, 20,446 kWh, payback 29 years (16 mi)
- Will County, IL: 5.98 m/s, 19,556 kWh, payback 27 years (31 mi)
- Cook County, IL: 6.73 m/s, 25,093 kWh, payback 21 years (32 mi)
- LaPorte County, IN: 6.1 m/s, 20,446 kWh, payback 29 years (33 mi)
- Jasper County, IN: 5.97 m/s, 19,482 kWh, payback 30 years (34 mi)
- Kankakee County, IL: 6.02 m/s, 19,852 kWh, payback 26 years (34 mi)
Sun versus wind in Lake County
Lake County gets 3.84 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,121 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,097. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.9 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.