Wind Turbine Payback in Menominee County, MI
Wind turbine payback in Menominee 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 Menominee County, MI averages 4.99 m/s (11.2 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 12,467 kWh a year, worth $2,709 at MI's 21.73¢/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 Menominee County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Menominee County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 6.4 m/s at the hub against 4.99 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,060 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,247, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 40¢/kWh, 1.8 times what MI pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 6.4 m/s instead of 4.99. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of MI
Menominee County is the 1,457th 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 Menominee County
January is the strongest month here, at 5.62 m/s and about 1,433 kWh. July is the weakest, 4.12 m/s and 612 kWh, so the best month makes 2.3 times the worst. November to March brings in 52% of the year's output in Menominee County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.62 m/s | 1,433 kWh | $311 |
| February | 5.78 m/s | 1,388 kWh | $302 |
| March | 5.34 m/s | 1,267 kWh | $275 |
| April | 5.32 m/s | 1,210 kWh | $263 |
| May | 4.64 m/s | 866 kWh | $188 |
| June | 4.18 m/s | 619 kWh | $135 |
| July | 4.12 m/s | 612 kWh | $133 |
| August | 4.24 m/s | 664 kWh | $144 |
| September | 4.78 m/s | 911 kWh | $198 |
| October | 5.24 m/s | 1,203 kWh | $261 |
| November | 5.33 m/s | 1,221 kWh | $265 |
| December | 5.39 m/s | 1,293 kWh | $281 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Menominee County averages 3.78 m/s; at 50 m it is 5.68 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.253, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 9,367 to 17,345 kWh a year, 85% 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 | 4.5 m/s | 9,367 kWh | 49 years |
| 30 m | 4.99 m/s | 12,476 kWh | 37 years |
| 40 m | 5.37 m/s | 15,092 kWh | 31 years |
| 50 m | 5.68 m/s | 17,345 kWh | 27 years |
Counties around Menominee County
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Door County, averages 7.26 m/s.
- Marinette County, WI: 4.71 m/s, 10,635 kWh, payback 49 years (27 mi)
- Delta County, MI: 4.35 m/s, 8,460 kWh, payback 54 years (34 mi)
- Dickinson County, MI: 3.95 m/s, 6,329 kWh, payback 73 years (37 mi)
- Door County, WI: 7.26 m/s, 28,881 kWh, payback 18 years (38 mi)
- Florence County, WI: 3.95 m/s, 6,329 kWh, payback 83 years (49 mi)
- Oconto County, WI: 5.93 m/s, 19,186 kWh, payback 27 years (51 mi)
Sun versus wind in Menominee County
Menominee 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 1,247. 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.