Wind Turbine Payback in Orleans Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Orleans Parish
No. The turbine wears out before it pays for itself.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Orleans Parish, LA averages 5.08 m/s (11.4 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 13,078 kWh a year, worth $1,735 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 58 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Orleans Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Orleans Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 5.08 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,384 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,308, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 38¢/kWh, 2.9 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 5.08. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Orleans Parish is the 1,418th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in LA is Iberia Parish at 5.86 m/s, payback 40 years.
Month by month in Orleans Parish
January is the strongest month here, at 5.95 m/s and about 1,640 kWh. July is the weakest, 3.76 m/s and 460 kWh, so the best month makes 3.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 56% of the year's output in Orleans Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.95 m/s | 1,640 kWh | $218 |
| February | 5.95 m/s | 1,482 kWh | $197 |
| March | 5.79 m/s | 1,543 kWh | $205 |
| April | 5.74 m/s | 1,460 kWh | $194 |
| May | 4.92 m/s | 1,020 kWh | $135 |
| June | 4.15 m/s | 605 kWh | $80 |
| July | 3.76 m/s | 460 kWh | $61 |
| August | 3.80 m/s | 478 kWh | $63 |
| September | 4.48 m/s | 758 kWh | $101 |
| October | 5.09 m/s | 1,119 kWh | $148 |
| November | 5.51 m/s | 1,322 kWh | $175 |
| December | 5.86 m/s | 1,588 kWh | $211 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Orleans Parish averages 4.21 m/s; at 50 m it is 5.54 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.171, typical of very open, smooth ground where height adds little. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 10,804 to 16,326 kWh a year, 51% 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 | 4.74 m/s | 10,804 kWh | 70 years |
| 30 m | 5.08 m/s | 13,055 kWh | 58 years |
| 40 m | 5.33 m/s | 14,839 kWh | 51 years |
| 50 m | 5.54 m/s | 16,326 kWh | 46 years |
Counties around Orleans Parish
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Jefferson Parish, averages 5.56 m/s.
- St. Tammany Parish, LA: 3.07 m/s, 2,813 kWh, payback over 100 years (25 mi)
- St. Charles Parish, LA: 4.7 m/s, 10,571 kWh, payback 71 years (27 mi)
- St. John the Baptist Parish, LA: 4.7 m/s, 10,571 kWh, payback 71 years (34 mi)
- Hancock County, MS: 3.35 m/s, 3,757 kWh, payback over 100 years (36 mi)
- Jefferson Parish, LA: 5.56 m/s, 16,471 kWh, payback 46 years (38 mi)
- St. Bernard Parish, LA: 5.27 m/s, 14,397 kWh, payback 52 years (41 mi)
Sun versus wind in Orleans Parish
Orleans Parish gets 4.74 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,384 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,308. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 1.1 times as much here as the turbine. 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.