Wind Turbine Payback in Okfuskee County, OK
Wind turbine payback in Okfuskee 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 Okfuskee County, OK averages 6.11 m/s (13.7 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 20,520 kWh a year, worth $2,834 at OK's 13.81¢/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 Okfuskee County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Okfuskee County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.4 m/s at the hub against 6.11 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,334 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,052, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 24¢/kWh, 1.8 times what OK pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.4 m/s instead of 6.11. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of OK
Okfuskee County is the 675th 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 Okfuskee County
April is the strongest month here, at 7.13 m/s and about 2,299 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.86 m/s and 986 kWh, so the best month makes 2.3 times the worst. November to March brings in 48% of the year's output in Okfuskee County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.46 m/s | 1,961 kWh | $271 |
| February | 6.56 m/s | 1,831 kWh | $253 |
| March | 6.93 m/s | 2,252 kWh | $311 |
| April | 7.13 m/s | 2,299 kWh | $317 |
| May | 6.28 m/s | 1,849 kWh | $255 |
| June | 5.75 m/s | 1,466 kWh | $202 |
| July | 4.96 m/s | 1,040 kWh | $144 |
| August | 4.86 m/s | 986 kWh | $136 |
| September | 5.24 m/s | 1,167 kWh | $161 |
| October | 6.21 m/s | 1,805 kWh | $249 |
| November | 6.66 m/s | 2,021 kWh | $279 |
| December | 6.35 m/s | 1,894 kWh | $262 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Okfuskee County averages 4.72 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.89 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.235, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,437 to 26,253 kWh a year, 60% 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 | 5.56 m/s | 16,437 kWh | 44 years |
| 30 m | 6.11 m/s | 20,524 kWh | 35 years |
| 40 m | 6.54 m/s | 23,687 kWh | 31 years |
| 50 m | 6.89 m/s | 26,253 kWh | 28 years |
Counties around Okfuskee County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Lincoln County, averages 6.24 m/s.
- Okmulgee County, OK: 6.11 m/s, 20,520 kWh, payback 35 years (24 mi)
- Seminole County, OK: 6.21 m/s, 21,262 kWh, payback 34 years (26 mi)
- Hughes County, OK: 6 m/s, 19,704 kWh, payback 37 years (29 mi)
- Creek County, OK: 6.16 m/s, 20,891 kWh, payback 35 years (31 mi)
- Lincoln County, OK: 6.24 m/s, 21,484 kWh, payback 34 years (35 mi)
- McIntosh County, OK: 5.63 m/s, 16,980 kWh, payback 43 years (38 mi)
Sun versus wind in Okfuskee County
Okfuskee County gets 4.57 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,334 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,052. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.5 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.