Wind Turbine Payback in Queen Anne's County, MD
Wind turbine payback in Queen Anne's 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 Queen Anne's County, MD averages 5.49 m/s (12.3 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 15,965 kWh a year, worth $3,402 at MD's 21.31¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 29 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Queen Anne's County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Queen Anne's County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 6.5 m/s at the hub against 5.49 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,180 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,597, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 31¢/kWh, 1.5 times what MD pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 6.5 m/s instead of 5.49. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of MD
Queen Anne's County is the 1,228th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in MD is Worcester County at 7.01 m/s, payback 17 years.
Month by month in Queen Anne's County
March is the strongest month here, at 6.40 m/s and about 1,924 kWh. August is the weakest, 4.12 m/s and 613 kWh, so the best month makes 3.1 times the worst. November to March brings in 55% of the year's output in Queen Anne's County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.37 m/s | 1,908 kWh | $407 |
| February | 6.44 m/s | 1,763 kWh | $376 |
| March | 6.40 m/s | 1,924 kWh | $410 |
| April | 6.16 m/s | 1,716 kWh | $366 |
| May | 5.19 m/s | 1,175 kWh | $250 |
| June | 4.71 m/s | 874 kWh | $186 |
| July | 4.19 m/s | 645 kWh | $137 |
| August | 4.12 m/s | 613 kWh | $131 |
| September | 4.76 m/s | 902 kWh | $192 |
| October | 5.59 m/s | 1,417 kWh | $302 |
| November | 5.98 m/s | 1,608 kWh | $343 |
| December | 6.10 m/s | 1,734 kWh | $370 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Queen Anne's County averages 4.26 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.18 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.231, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 12,542 to 21,039 kWh a year, 68% 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 | 5 m/s | 12,542 kWh | 37 years |
| 30 m | 5.49 m/s | 15,980 kWh | 29 years |
| 40 m | 5.87 m/s | 18,739 kWh | 25 years |
| 50 m | 6.18 m/s | 21,039 kWh | 22 years |
Counties around Queen Anne's County
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Caroline County, averages 5.7 m/s.
- Kent County, MD: 5.49 m/s, 15,965 kWh, payback 29 years (14 mi)
- Caroline County, MD: 5.7 m/s, 17,492 kWh, payback 27 years (18 mi)
- Talbot County, MD: 5.21 m/s, 13,976 kWh, payback 34 years (21 mi)
- Anne Arundel County, MD: 5.49 m/s, 15,965 kWh, payback 29 years (26 mi)
- Kent County, DE: 5.7 m/s, 17,492 kWh, payback 32 years (31 mi)
- Baltimore city, MD: 5.26 m/s, 14,327 kWh, payback 33 years (33 mi)
Sun versus wind in Queen Anne's County
Queen Anne's County gets 4.04 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,180 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,597. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.4 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.