Wind Turbine Payback in Pushmataha County, OK
Wind turbine payback in Pushmataha 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 Pushmataha County, OK averages 4.18 m/s (9.4 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 7,515 kWh a year, worth $1,038 at OK's 13.81¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 96 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Pushmataha County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Pushmataha County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.4 m/s at the hub against 4.18 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,314 kWh a year here against the turbine's 752, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 67¢/kWh, 4.8 times what OK pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.4 m/s instead of 4.18. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of OK
Pushmataha County is the 1,957th 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 Pushmataha County
March is the strongest month here, at 4.87 m/s and about 992 kWh. July is the weakest, 3.29 m/s and 300 kWh, so the best month makes 3.3 times the worst. November to March brings in 51% of the year's output in Pushmataha County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.46 m/s | 774 kWh | $107 |
| February | 4.63 m/s | 777 kWh | $107 |
| March | 4.87 m/s | 992 kWh | $137 |
| April | 4.90 m/s | 978 kWh | $135 |
| May | 4.30 m/s | 696 kWh | $96 |
| June | 3.81 m/s | 466 kWh | $64 |
| July | 3.29 m/s | 300 kWh | $41 |
| August | 3.31 m/s | 307 kWh | $42 |
| September | 3.62 m/s | 396 kWh | $55 |
| October | 4.18 m/s | 638 kWh | $88 |
| November | 4.47 m/s | 753 kWh | $104 |
| December | 4.34 m/s | 712 kWh | $98 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Pushmataha County averages 2.83 m/s; at 50 m it is 5.01 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.355, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 4,815 to 12,602 kWh a year, 162% 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 | 3.62 m/s | 4,815 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 4.18 m/s | 7,510 kWh | 96 years |
| 40 m | 4.63 m/s | 10,123 kWh | 72 years |
| 50 m | 5.01 m/s | 12,602 kWh | 58 years |
Counties around Pushmataha County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Atoka County, averages 5.49 m/s.
- Choctaw County, OK: 4.06 m/s, 6,883 kWh, payback over 100 years (26 mi)
- Latimer County, OK: 4 m/s, 6,577 kWh, payback over 100 years (35 mi)
- Atoka County, OK: 5.49 m/s, 15,965 kWh, payback 45 years (36 mi)
- McCurtain County, OK: 3.76 m/s, 5,432 kWh, payback over 100 years (41 mi)
- Pittsburg County, OK: 5.24 m/s, 14,186 kWh, payback 51 years (42 mi)
- Lamar County, TX: 5.37 m/s, 15,105 kWh, payback 41 years (50 mi)
Sun versus wind in Pushmataha County
Pushmataha 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 752. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 1.7 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.