Wind Turbine Payback in Luce County, MI
Wind turbine payback in Luce 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 Luce County, MI averages 4.89 m/s (10.9 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 11,800 kWh a year, worth $2,564 at MI's 21.73¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 39 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Luce County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Luce County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 6.4 m/s at the hub against 4.89 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,007 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,180, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 42¢/kWh, 1.9 times what MI pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 6.4 m/s instead of 4.89. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of MI
Luce County is the 1,510th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in MI is Keweenaw County at 7.4 m/s, payback 15 years.
Month by month in Luce County
January is the strongest month here, at 5.65 m/s and about 1,452 kWh. June is the weakest, 3.81 m/s and 466 kWh, so the best month makes 3.1 times the worst. November to March brings in 56% of the year's output in Luce County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.65 m/s | 1,452 kWh | $316 |
| February | 5.79 m/s | 1,394 kWh | $303 |
| March | 5.36 m/s | 1,276 kWh | $277 |
| April | 5.12 m/s | 1,100 kWh | $239 |
| May | 4.41 m/s | 749 kWh | $163 |
| June | 3.81 m/s | 466 kWh | $101 |
| July | 3.83 m/s | 489 kWh | $106 |
| August | 4.08 m/s | 594 kWh | $129 |
| September | 4.68 m/s | 859 kWh | $187 |
| October | 5.11 m/s | 1,126 kWh | $245 |
| November | 5.42 m/s | 1,271 kWh | $276 |
| December | 5.45 m/s | 1,329 kWh | $289 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Luce County averages 3.61 m/s; at 50 m it is 5.63 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.276, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 8,586 to 16,980 kWh a year, 98% 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 | 4.37 m/s | 8,586 kWh | 54 years |
| 30 m | 4.89 m/s | 11,798 kWh | 39 years |
| 40 m | 5.29 m/s | 14,564 kWh | 32 years |
| 50 m | 5.63 m/s | 16,980 kWh | 27 years |
Counties around Luce County
5 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Charlevoix County, averages 7.15 m/s.
- Mackinac County, MI: 5.26 m/s, 14,327 kWh, payback 32 years (26 mi)
- Schoolcraft County, MI: 5.88 m/s, 18,816 kWh, payback 25 years (47 mi)
- Chippewa County, MI: 4.74 m/s, 10,826 kWh, payback 43 years (49 mi)
- Alger County, MI: 5.37 m/s, 15,105 kWh, payback 31 years (54 mi)
- Charlevoix County, MI: 7.15 m/s, 28,109 kWh, payback 16 years (62 mi)
- Emmet County, MI: 6.4 m/s, 22,669 kWh, payback 20 years (69 mi)
Sun versus wind in Luce County
Luce County gets 3.45 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,007 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,180. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.2 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.