Wind Turbine Payback in Schoolcraft County, MI
Wind turbine payback in Schoolcraft 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 Schoolcraft County, MI averages 5.88 m/s (13.2 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 18,816 kWh a year, worth $4,089 at MI's 21.73¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 25 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Schoolcraft County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Schoolcraft County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 6.4 m/s at the hub against 5.88 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,004 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,882, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 27¢/kWh, 1.2 times what MI pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 6.4 m/s instead of 5.88. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of MI
Schoolcraft County is the 1,013th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in MI is Keweenaw County at 7.4 m/s, payback 15 years.
Month by month in Schoolcraft County
January is the strongest month here, at 6.61 m/s and about 2,054 kWh. June is the weakest, 4.85 m/s and 947 kWh, so the best month makes 2.2 times the worst. November to March brings in 51% of the year's output in Schoolcraft County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.61 m/s | 2,054 kWh | $446 |
| February | 6.61 m/s | 1,860 kWh | $404 |
| March | 6.20 m/s | 1,798 kWh | $391 |
| April | 6.20 m/s | 1,740 kWh | $378 |
| May | 5.46 m/s | 1,340 kWh | $291 |
| June | 4.85 m/s | 947 kWh | $206 |
| July | 4.84 m/s | 974 kWh | $212 |
| August | 5.01 m/s | 1,071 kWh | $233 |
| September | 5.68 m/s | 1,426 kWh | $310 |
| October | 6.22 m/s | 1,810 kWh | $393 |
| November | 6.51 m/s | 1,927 kWh | $419 |
| December | 6.43 m/s | 1,946 kWh | $423 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Schoolcraft County averages 4.76 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.49 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.193, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 15,591 to 23,333 kWh a year, 50% 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 | 5.44 m/s | 15,591 kWh | 30 years |
| 30 m | 5.88 m/s | 18,821 kWh | 25 years |
| 40 m | 6.22 m/s | 21,309 kWh | 22 years |
| 50 m | 6.49 m/s | 23,333 kWh | 20 years |
Counties around Schoolcraft County
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Leelanau County, averages 7.3 m/s.
- Delta County, MI: 4.35 m/s, 8,460 kWh, payback 54 years (37 mi)
- Alger County, MI: 5.37 m/s, 15,105 kWh, payback 31 years (41 mi)
- Charlevoix County, MI: 7.15 m/s, 28,109 kWh, payback 16 years (42 mi)
- Mackinac County, MI: 5.26 m/s, 14,327 kWh, payback 32 years (44 mi)
- Luce County, MI: 4.89 m/s, 11,800 kWh, payback 39 years (47 mi)
- Leelanau County, MI: 7.3 m/s, 29,160 kWh, payback 16 years (61 mi)
Sun versus wind in Schoolcraft County
Schoolcraft County gets 3.44 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,004 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,882. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.9 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.