Wind Turbine Payback in Morrill County, NE
Wind turbine payback in Morrill 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 Morrill County, NE averages 6.33 m/s (14.2 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 22,151 kWh a year, worth $2,862 at NE's 12.92¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 35 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Morrill County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Morrill County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.8 m/s at the hub against 6.33 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,364 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,215, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 23¢/kWh, 1.7 times what NE pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.8 m/s instead of 6.33. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of NE
Morrill County is the 441st windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in NE is Cherry County at 6.83 m/s, payback 30 years.
Month by month in Morrill County
January is the strongest month here, at 7.12 m/s and about 2,368 kWh. July is the weakest, 5.28 m/s and 1,229 kWh, so the best month makes 1.9 times the worst. November to March brings in 49% of the year's output in Morrill County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.12 m/s | 2,368 kWh | $306 |
| February | 6.87 m/s | 2,001 kWh | $259 |
| March | 6.82 m/s | 2,189 kWh | $283 |
| April | 6.80 m/s | 2,102 kWh | $272 |
| May | 6.09 m/s | 1,731 kWh | $224 |
| June | 5.69 m/s | 1,432 kWh | $185 |
| July | 5.28 m/s | 1,229 kWh | $159 |
| August | 5.33 m/s | 1,261 kWh | $163 |
| September | 5.81 m/s | 1,502 kWh | $194 |
| October | 6.50 m/s | 1,989 kWh | $257 |
| November | 6.81 m/s | 2,107 kWh | $272 |
| December | 6.97 m/s | 2,281 kWh | $295 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Morrill County averages 4.95 m/s; at 50 m it is 7.1 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.224, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 18,098 to 27,755 kWh a year, 53% 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 | 5.78 m/s | 18,098 kWh | 43 years |
| 30 m | 6.33 m/s | 22,168 kWh | 35 years |
| 40 m | 6.75 m/s | 25,267 kWh | 31 years |
| 50 m | 7.1 m/s | 27,755 kWh | 28 years |
Counties around Morrill County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Banner County, averages 6.44 m/s.
- Box Butte County, NE: 6.38 m/s, 22,521 kWh, payback 34 years (33 mi)
- Cheyenne County, NE: 6.17 m/s, 20,965 kWh, payback 37 years (36 mi)
- Garden County, NE: 6.34 m/s, 22,225 kWh, payback 35 years (36 mi)
- Scotts Bluff County, NE: 6.25 m/s, 21,558 kWh, payback 36 years (38 mi)
- Banner County, NE: 6.44 m/s, 22,964 kWh, payback 34 years (40 mi)
- Kimball County, NE: 6.1 m/s, 20,446 kWh, payback 38 years (52 mi)
Sun versus wind in Morrill County
Morrill County gets 4.67 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,364 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,215. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.6 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.