Wind Turbine Payback in Owyhee County, ID
Wind turbine payback in Owyhee 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 Owyhee County, ID averages 5.38 m/s (12 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 15,176 kWh a year, worth $1,976 at ID's 13.02¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 51 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Owyhee County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Owyhee County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.7 m/s at the hub against 5.38 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,343 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,518, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 33¢/kWh, 2.5 times what ID pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.7 m/s instead of 5.38. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of ID
Owyhee County is the 1,292nd windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. It is the windiest county in ID.
Month by month in Owyhee County
December is the strongest month here, at 6.32 m/s and about 1,875 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.33 m/s and 709 kWh, so the best month makes 2.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 55% of the year's output in Owyhee County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.07 m/s | 1,717 kWh | $224 |
| February | 6.19 m/s | 1,617 kWh | $211 |
| March | 6.21 m/s | 1,807 kWh | $235 |
| April | 5.68 m/s | 1,428 kWh | $186 |
| May | 5.02 m/s | 1,076 kWh | $140 |
| June | 4.74 m/s | 891 kWh | $116 |
| July | 4.35 m/s | 717 kWh | $93 |
| August | 4.33 m/s | 709 kWh | $92 |
| September | 4.62 m/s | 826 kWh | $108 |
| October | 5.25 m/s | 1,213 kWh | $158 |
| November | 5.83 m/s | 1,514 kWh | $197 |
| December | 6.32 m/s | 1,875 kWh | $244 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Owyhee County averages 4.25 m/s; at 50 m it is 6 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.214, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 12,076 to 19,704 kWh a year, 63% 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 | 4.93 m/s | 12,076 kWh | 64 years |
| 30 m | 5.38 m/s | 15,167 kWh | 51 years |
| 40 m | 5.72 m/s | 17,640 kWh | 44 years |
| 50 m | 6 m/s | 19,704 kWh | 39 years |
Counties around Owyhee County
None of the 6 closest counties is windier than Owyhee County.
- Ada County, ID: 4.17 m/s, 7,461 kWh, payback over 100 years (61 mi)
- Elmore County, ID: 3.85 m/s, 5,847 kWh, payback over 100 years (67 mi)
- Gooding County, ID: 4.99 m/s, 12,467 kWh, payback 62 years (75 mi)
- Canyon County, ID: 4.3 m/s, 8,176 kWh, payback 94 years (77 mi)
- Twin Falls County, ID: 5.3 m/s, 14,608 kWh, payback 53 years (79 mi)
- Malheur County, OR: 4.65 m/s, 10,257 kWh, payback 63 years (83 mi)
Sun versus wind in Owyhee County
Owyhee County gets 4.6 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,343 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,518. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.1 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.