Wind Turbine Payback in Pershing County, NV
Wind turbine payback in Pershing 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 Pershing County, NV averages 3.52 m/s (7.9 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 4,408 kWh a year, worth $589 at NV's 13.36¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of over 100 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Pershing County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Pershing County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 3.52 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,478 kWh a year here against the turbine's 441, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 113¢/kWh, 8.5 times what NV pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 3.52. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of NV
Pershing County is the 2,490th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in NV is Nye County at 4.71 m/s, payback 70 years.
Month by month in Pershing County
April is the strongest month here, at 4.12 m/s and about 592 kWh. September is the weakest, 3.20 m/s and 265 kWh, so the best month makes 2.2 times the worst. November to March brings in 41% of the year's output in Pershing County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.18 m/s | 269 kWh | $36 |
| February | 3.63 m/s | 373 kWh | $50 |
| March | 3.97 m/s | 545 kWh | $73 |
| April | 4.12 m/s | 592 kWh | $79 |
| May | 3.83 m/s | 489 kWh | $65 |
| June | 3.76 m/s | 445 kWh | $59 |
| July | 3.24 m/s | 287 kWh | $38 |
| August | 3.18 m/s | 269 kWh | $36 |
| September | 3.20 m/s | 265 kWh | $35 |
| October | 3.24 m/s | 287 kWh | $38 |
| November | 3.39 m/s | 321 kWh | $43 |
| December | 3.46 m/s | 356 kWh | $48 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Pershing County averages 2.9 m/s; at 50 m it is 3.85 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.176, typical of very open, smooth ground where height adds little. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 3,494 to 5,847 kWh a year, 67% 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 | 3.28 m/s | 3,494 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 3.52 m/s | 4,404 kWh | over 100 years |
| 40 m | 3.7 m/s | 5,172 kWh | over 100 years |
| 50 m | 3.85 m/s | 5,847 kWh | over 100 years |
Counties around Pershing County
6 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Lander County, averages 4.15 m/s.
- Churchill County, NV: 3.58 m/s, 4,653 kWh, payback over 100 years (63 mi)
- Humboldt County, NV: 3.8 m/s, 5,614 kWh, payback over 100 years (69 mi)
- Washoe County, NV: 3.61 m/s, 4,778 kWh, payback over 100 years (69 mi)
- Lander County, NV: 4.15 m/s, 7,354 kWh, payback over 100 years (81 mi)
- Storey County, NV: 3.6 m/s, 4,736 kWh, payback over 100 years (91 mi)
- Lyon County, NV: 3.6 m/s, 4,736 kWh, payback over 100 years (107 mi)
Sun versus wind in Pershing County
Pershing County gets 5.06 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,478 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 441. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 3.4 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.