Wind Turbine Payback in Lake County, OH
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, OH averages 6.53 m/s (14.6 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 23,628 kWh a year, worth $4,444 at OH's 18.81¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 23 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, 6.9 m/s at the hub against 6.53 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,060 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,363, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 21¢/kWh, 1.1 times what OH pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 6.9 m/s instead of 6.53. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of OH
Lake County is the 165th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. It is the windiest county in OH.
Month by month in Lake County
January is the strongest month here, at 8.15 m/s and about 2,953 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.73 m/s and 915 kWh, so the best month makes 3.2 times the worst. November to March brings in 56% of the year's output in Lake County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.15 m/s | 2,953 kWh | $555 |
| February | 7.58 m/s | 2,383 kWh | $448 |
| March | 7.01 m/s | 2,303 kWh | $433 |
| April | 6.94 m/s | 2,190 kWh | $412 |
| May | 5.79 m/s | 1,540 kWh | $290 |
| June | 5.26 m/s | 1,180 kWh | $222 |
| July | 4.80 m/s | 951 kWh | $179 |
| August | 4.73 m/s | 915 kWh | $172 |
| September | 5.49 m/s | 1,311 kWh | $247 |
| October | 7.11 m/s | 2,365 kWh | $445 |
| November | 7.71 m/s | 2,626 kWh | $494 |
| December | 7.93 m/s | 2,837 kWh | $534 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Lake County averages 5.63 m/s; at 50 m it is 7 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.135, typical of very open, smooth ground where height adds little. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 21,080 to 27,043 kWh a year, 28% 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 | 6.19 m/s | 21,080 kWh | 25 years |
| 30 m | 6.53 m/s | 23,654 kWh | 23 years |
| 40 m | 6.79 m/s | 25,546 kWh | 21 years |
| 50 m | 7 m/s | 27,043 kWh | 20 years |
Counties around Lake County
None of the 6 closest counties is windier than Lake County.
- Geauga County, OH: 4.45 m/s, 9,041 kWh, payback 59 years (19 mi)
- Ashtabula County, OH: 5.25 m/s, 14,256 kWh, payback 37 years (25 mi)
- Cuyahoga County, OH: 6.35 m/s, 22,299 kWh, payback 24 years (26 mi)
- Trumbull County, OH: 3.74 m/s, 5,342 kWh, payback 100 years (39 mi)
- Portage County, OH: 4.24 m/s, 7,842 kWh, payback 68 years (42 mi)
- Summit County, OH: 4.24 m/s, 7,842 kWh, payback 68 years (49 mi)
Sun versus wind in Lake County
Lake County gets 3.63 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,060 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,363. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 2.2 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.