Wind Turbine Payback in Roseau County, MN
Wind turbine payback in Roseau 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 Roseau County, MN averages 5.74 m/s (12.8 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 17,785 kWh a year, worth $2,924 at MN's 16.44¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 34 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Roseau County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Roseau County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.5 m/s at the hub against 5.74 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,063 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,779, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 28¢/kWh, 1.7 times what MN pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.5 m/s instead of 5.74. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of MN
Roseau County is the 1,116th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in MN is Lincoln County at 6.68 m/s, payback 25 years.
Month by month in Roseau County
October is the strongest month here, at 6.08 m/s and about 1,722 kWh. July is the weakest, 5.31 m/s and 1,245 kWh, so the best month makes 1.4 times the worst. November to March brings in 40% of the year's output in Roseau County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.60 m/s | 1,426 kWh | $234 |
| February | 5.59 m/s | 1,278 kWh | $210 |
| March | 5.86 m/s | 1,587 kWh | $261 |
| April | 6.13 m/s | 1,700 kWh | $279 |
| May | 6.01 m/s | 1,683 kWh | $277 |
| June | 5.61 m/s | 1,385 kWh | $228 |
| July | 5.31 m/s | 1,245 kWh | $205 |
| August | 5.39 m/s | 1,294 kWh | $213 |
| September | 5.96 m/s | 1,596 kWh | $262 |
| October | 6.08 m/s | 1,722 kWh | $283 |
| November | 5.86 m/s | 1,536 kWh | $253 |
| December | 5.44 m/s | 1,327 kWh | $218 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Roseau County averages 4.52 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.41 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.217, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 14,286 to 22,743 kWh a year, 59% 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 | 5.25 m/s | 14,286 kWh | 43 years |
| 30 m | 5.74 m/s | 17,766 kWh | 34 years |
| 40 m | 6.11 m/s | 20,498 kWh | 30 years |
| 50 m | 6.41 m/s | 22,743 kWh | 27 years |
Counties around Roseau County
5 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Pennington County, averages 6.34 m/s.
- Marshall County, MN: 6.31 m/s, 22,003 kWh, payback 28 years (37 mi)
- Lake of the Woods County, MN: 5.51 m/s, 16,109 kWh, payback 38 years (42 mi)
- Kittson County, MN: 6.25 m/s, 21,558 kWh, payback 28 years (44 mi)
- Pennington County, MN: 6.34 m/s, 22,225 kWh, payback 27 years (49 mi)
- Red Lake County, MN: 6.34 m/s, 22,225 kWh, payback 27 years (63 mi)
- Beltrami County, MN: 6.25 m/s, 21,558 kWh, payback 28 years (72 mi)
Sun versus wind in Roseau County
Roseau County gets 3.64 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,063 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,779. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.7 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.