Wind Turbine Payback in Rapides Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Rapides Parish
No. The turbine wears out before it pays for itself.
At 30 m, the height a home turbine tower usually reaches, the wind in Rapides Parish, LA averages 3.85 m/s (8.6 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 5,847 kWh a year, worth $776 at LA's 13.27¢/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 Rapides Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Rapides Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 3.85 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,337 kWh a year here against the turbine's 585, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 86¢/kWh, 6.4 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 3.85. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Rapides Parish is the 2,176th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in LA is Iberia Parish at 5.86 m/s, payback 40 years.
Month by month in Rapides Parish
April is the strongest month here, at 4.45 m/s and about 743 kWh. July is the weakest, 2.99 m/s and 219 kWh, so the best month makes 3.4 times the worst. November to March brings in 54% of the year's output in Rapides Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.22 m/s | 658 kWh | $87 |
| February | 4.39 m/s | 667 kWh | $89 |
| March | 4.38 m/s | 734 kWh | $97 |
| April | 4.45 m/s | 743 kWh | $99 |
| May | 3.91 m/s | 522 kWh | $69 |
| June | 3.34 m/s | 305 kWh | $40 |
| July | 2.99 m/s | 219 kWh | $29 |
| August | 3.08 m/s | 241 kWh | $32 |
| September | 3.44 m/s | 336 kWh | $45 |
| October | 3.76 m/s | 463 kWh | $61 |
| November | 4.06 m/s | 568 kWh | $75 |
| December | 4.21 m/s | 650 kWh | $86 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Rapides Parish averages 2.62 m/s; at 50 m it is 4.6 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.350, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 3,713 to 9,947 kWh a year, 168% 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 | 3.34 m/s | 3,713 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 3.85 m/s | 5,833 kWh | over 100 years |
| 40 m | 4.25 m/s | 7,922 kWh | 95 years |
| 50 m | 4.6 m/s | 9,947 kWh | 76 years |
Counties around Rapides Parish
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Evangeline Parish, averages 4.4 m/s.
- Grant Parish, LA: 3.39 m/s, 3,905 kWh, payback over 100 years (28 mi)
- Avoyelles Parish, LA: 4.23 m/s, 7,787 kWh, payback 97 years (33 mi)
- Evangeline Parish, LA: 4.4 m/s, 8,748 kWh, payback 86 years (34 mi)
- Vernon Parish, LA: 3.17 m/s, 3,132 kWh, payback over 100 years (39 mi)
- LaSalle Parish, LA: 4.14 m/s, 7,301 kWh, payback over 100 years (40 mi)
- Allen Parish, LA: 3.83 m/s, 5,753 kWh, payback over 100 years (41 mi)
Sun versus wind in Rapides Parish
Rapides Parish gets 4.58 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,337 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 585. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 2.3 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.