Wind Turbine Payback in Love County, OK
Wind turbine payback in Love 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 Love County, OK averages 5.96 m/s (13.3 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 19,408 kWh a year, worth $2,680 at OK's 13.81¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 37 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Love County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Love County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.4 m/s at the hub against 5.96 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,405 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,941, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 26¢/kWh, 1.9 times what OK pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.4 m/s instead of 5.96. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of OK
Love County is the 901st windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in OK is Cimarron County at 6.82 m/s, payback 28 years.
Month by month in Love County
April is the strongest month here, at 6.95 m/s and about 2,193 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.88 m/s and 994 kWh, so the best month makes 2.2 times the worst. November to March brings in 47% of the year's output in Love County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.16 m/s | 1,775 kWh | $245 |
| February | 6.36 m/s | 1,714 kWh | $237 |
| March | 6.70 m/s | 2,113 kWh | $292 |
| April | 6.95 m/s | 2,193 kWh | $303 |
| May | 6.24 m/s | 1,825 kWh | $252 |
| June | 5.75 m/s | 1,470 kWh | $203 |
| July | 5.00 m/s | 1,064 kWh | $147 |
| August | 4.88 m/s | 994 kWh | $137 |
| September | 5.10 m/s | 1,084 kWh | $150 |
| October | 5.97 m/s | 1,657 kWh | $229 |
| November | 6.34 m/s | 1,825 kWh | $252 |
| December | 6.10 m/s | 1,736 kWh | $240 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Love County averages 4.6 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.72 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.236, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 15,413 to 25,020 kWh a year, 62% 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 | 5.41 m/s | 15,413 kWh | 47 years |
| 30 m | 5.96 m/s | 19,384 kWh | 37 years |
| 40 m | 6.38 m/s | 22,486 kWh | 32 years |
| 50 m | 6.72 m/s | 25,020 kWh | 29 years |
Counties around Love County
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Carter County, averages 6.07 m/s.
- Carter County, OK: 6.07 m/s, 20,223 kWh, payback 36 years (20 mi)
- Cooke County, TX: 5.91 m/s, 19,038 kWh, payback 33 years (22 mi)
- Marshall County, OK: 5.95 m/s, 19,334 kWh, payback 38 years (28 mi)
- Montague County, TX: 5.91 m/s, 19,038 kWh, payback 33 years (34 mi)
- Jefferson County, OK: 5.94 m/s, 19,260 kWh, payback 38 years (35 mi)
- Murray County, OK: 6.07 m/s, 20,223 kWh, payback 36 years (38 mi)
Sun versus wind in Love County
Love County gets 4.81 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,405 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,941. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.4 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.