Wind Turbine Payback in Laramie County, WY
Wind turbine payback in Laramie 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 Laramie County, WY averages 6.76 m/s (15.1 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 25,311 kWh a year, worth $3,546 at WY's 14.01¢/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 Laramie County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Laramie County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.3 m/s at the hub against 6.76 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,334 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,531, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 20¢/kWh, 1.4 times what WY pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.3 m/s instead of 6.76. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of WY
Laramie County is the 40th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in WY is Albany County at 7.32 m/s, payback 24 years.
Month by month in Laramie County
January is the strongest month here, at 8.36 m/s and about 3,065 kWh. July is the weakest, 5.23 m/s and 1,201 kWh, so the best month makes 2.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 54% of the year's output in Laramie County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.36 m/s | 3,065 kWh | $429 |
| February | 7.68 m/s | 2,433 kWh | $341 |
| March | 7.38 m/s | 2,524 kWh | $354 |
| April | 6.92 m/s | 2,178 kWh | $305 |
| May | 6.02 m/s | 1,687 kWh | $236 |
| June | 5.65 m/s | 1,405 kWh | $197 |
| July | 5.23 m/s | 1,201 kWh | $168 |
| August | 5.31 m/s | 1,244 kWh | $174 |
| September | 5.86 m/s | 1,534 kWh | $215 |
| October | 6.91 m/s | 2,240 kWh | $314 |
| November | 7.72 m/s | 2,631 kWh | $369 |
| December | 8.10 m/s | 2,925 kWh | $410 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Laramie County averages 5.32 m/s; at 50 m it is 7.55 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.218, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 21,061 to 30,875 kWh a year, 47% 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 | 6.18 m/s | 21,061 kWh | 34 years |
| 30 m | 6.75 m/s | 25,270 kWh | 28 years |
| 40 m | 7.19 m/s | 28,401 kWh | 25 years |
| 50 m | 7.55 m/s | 30,875 kWh | 23 years |
Counties around Laramie County
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Albany County, averages 7.32 m/s.
- Kimball County, NE: 6.1 m/s, 20,446 kWh, payback 38 years (50 mi)
- Banner County, NE: 6.44 m/s, 22,964 kWh, payback 34 years (51 mi)
- Weld County, CO: 4.95 m/s, 12,199 kWh, payback 49 years (53 mi)
- Goshen County, WY: 6.38 m/s, 22,521 kWh, payback 32 years (57 mi)
- Platte County, WY: 7.03 m/s, 27,257 kWh, payback 26 years (60 mi)
- Albany County, WY: 7.32 m/s, 29,299 kWh, payback 24 years (61 mi)
Sun versus wind in Laramie County
Laramie County gets 4.57 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,334 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,531. 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.