Wind Turbine Payback in Nome Census Area, AK
Wind turbine payback in Nome Census Area
No. The turbine wears out before it pays for itself.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Nome Census Area, AK averages 5.74 m/s (12.8 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 17,785 kWh a year, worth $4,859 at AK's 27.32¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 21 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Nome Census Area
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Nome Census Area unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 5.8 m/s at the hub against 5.74 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 724 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,779, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 28¢/kWh, 1.0 times what AK pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 5.8 m/s instead of 5.74. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of AK
Nome Census Area is the 1,116th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in AK is Aleutians West Census Area at 9.35 m/s, payback 9 years.
Month by month in Nome Census Area
January is the strongest month here, at 7.29 m/s and about 2,471 kWh. June is the weakest, 4.24 m/s and 645 kWh, so the best month makes 3.8 times the worst. November to March brings in 61% of the year's output in Nome Census Area.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.29 m/s | 2,471 kWh | $675 |
| February | 7.32 m/s | 2,247 kWh | $614 |
| March | 6.31 m/s | 1,869 kWh | $511 |
| April | 5.64 m/s | 1,401 kWh | $383 |
| May | 4.64 m/s | 866 kWh | $237 |
| June | 4.24 m/s | 645 kWh | $176 |
| July | 4.29 m/s | 692 kWh | $189 |
| August | 4.50 m/s | 795 kWh | $217 |
| September | 5.25 m/s | 1,171 kWh | $320 |
| October | 5.74 m/s | 1,509 kWh | $412 |
| November | 6.57 m/s | 1,968 kWh | $538 |
| December | 7.15 m/s | 2,385 kWh | $652 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Nome Census Area averages 4.66 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.32 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.189, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 14,715 to 22,077 kWh a year, 50% 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 | 5.32 m/s | 14,715 kWh | 25 years |
| 30 m | 5.74 m/s | 17,773 kWh | 21 years |
| 40 m | 6.06 m/s | 20,141 kWh | 18 years |
| 50 m | 6.32 m/s | 22,077 kWh | 17 years |
Counties around Nome Census Area
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Kusilvak Census Area, averages 6.25 m/s.
- Kusilvak Census Area, AK: 6.25 m/s, 21,558 kWh, payback 17 years (175 mi)
- Northwest Arctic Borough, AK: 5.52 m/s, 16,181 kWh, payback 23 years (193 mi)
- Bethel Census Area, AK: 5.27 m/s, 14,397 kWh, payback 25 years (295 mi)
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, AK: 5.2 m/s, 13,907 kWh, payback 26 years (369 mi)
- Dillingham Census Area, AK: 6.07 m/s, 20,223 kWh, payback 18 years (409 mi)
- North Slope Borough, AK: 4.73 m/s, 10,762 kWh, payback 34 years (431 mi)
Sun versus wind in Nome Census Area
Nome Census Area gets 2.48 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 724 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,779. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 2.5 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.