Wind Turbine Payback in Pittsburg County, OK
Wind turbine payback in Pittsburg 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 Pittsburg County, OK averages 5.24 m/s (11.7 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 14,186 kWh a year, worth $1,959 at OK's 13.81¢/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 Pittsburg County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Pittsburg County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.4 m/s at the hub against 5.24 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,314 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,419, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 35¢/kWh, 2.6 times what OK pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.4 m/s instead of 5.24. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of OK
Pittsburg County is the 1,356th 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 Pittsburg County
April is the strongest month here, at 6.17 m/s and about 1,725 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.13 m/s and 614 kWh, so the best month makes 2.8 times the worst. November to March brings in 51% of the year's output in Pittsburg County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.59 m/s | 1,415 kWh | $195 |
| February | 5.74 m/s | 1,362 kWh | $188 |
| March | 6.04 m/s | 1,700 kWh | $235 |
| April | 6.17 m/s | 1,725 kWh | $238 |
| May | 5.40 m/s | 1,303 kWh | $180 |
| June | 4.78 m/s | 912 kWh | $126 |
| July | 4.14 m/s | 622 kWh | $86 |
| August | 4.13 m/s | 614 kWh | $85 |
| September | 4.45 m/s | 743 kWh | $103 |
| October | 5.25 m/s | 1,213 kWh | $168 |
| November | 5.73 m/s | 1,454 kWh | $201 |
| December | 5.47 m/s | 1,346 kWh | $186 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Pittsburg County averages 3.92 m/s; at 50 m it is 5.99 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.263, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 10,617 to 19,630 kWh a year, 85% 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 | 4.71 m/s | 10,617 kWh | 68 years |
| 30 m | 5.24 m/s | 14,165 kWh | 51 years |
| 40 m | 5.65 m/s | 17,116 kWh | 42 years |
| 50 m | 5.99 m/s | 19,630 kWh | 37 years |
Counties around Pittsburg County
4 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Hughes County, averages 6 m/s.
- Latimer County, OK: 4 m/s, 6,577 kWh, payback over 100 years (27 mi)
- Hughes County, OK: 6 m/s, 19,704 kWh, payback 37 years (30 mi)
- McIntosh County, OK: 5.63 m/s, 16,980 kWh, payback 43 years (31 mi)
- Coal County, OK: 5.49 m/s, 15,965 kWh, payback 45 years (39 mi)
- Atoka County, OK: 5.49 m/s, 15,965 kWh, payback 45 years (40 mi)
- Haskell County, OK: 4 m/s, 6,577 kWh, payback over 100 years (42 mi)
Sun versus wind in Pittsburg County
Pittsburg County gets 4.5 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,314 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,419. 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.