Wind Turbine Payback in Sheridan County, NE
Wind turbine payback in Sheridan 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 Sheridan County, NE averages 6.61 m/s (14.8 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 24,216 kWh a year, worth $3,129 at NE's 12.92¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 32 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Sheridan County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Sheridan County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.8 m/s at the hub against 6.61 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,317 kWh a year here against the turbine's 2,422, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 21¢/kWh, 1.6 times what NE pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.8 m/s instead of 6.61. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of NE
Sheridan County is the 107th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in NE is Cherry County at 6.83 m/s, payback 30 years.
Month by month in Sheridan County
January is the strongest month here, at 7.27 m/s and about 2,457 kWh. July is the weakest, 5.65 m/s and 1,457 kWh, so the best month makes 1.7 times the worst. November to March brings in 47% of the year's output in Sheridan County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.27 m/s | 2,457 kWh | $317 |
| February | 6.98 m/s | 2,063 kWh | $267 |
| March | 6.98 m/s | 2,284 kWh | $295 |
| April | 7.02 m/s | 2,232 kWh | $288 |
| May | 6.43 m/s | 1,946 kWh | $251 |
| June | 6.05 m/s | 1,649 kWh | $213 |
| July | 5.65 m/s | 1,457 kWh | $188 |
| August | 5.77 m/s | 1,529 kWh | $198 |
| September | 6.25 m/s | 1,774 kWh | $229 |
| October | 6.79 m/s | 2,169 kWh | $280 |
| November | 7.02 m/s | 2,237 kWh | $289 |
| December | 7.14 m/s | 2,382 kWh | $308 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Sheridan County averages 5.22 m/s; at 50 m it is 7.38 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.215, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 20,152 to 29,714 kWh a year, 47% 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 | 6.06 m/s | 20,152 kWh | 38 years |
| 30 m | 6.61 m/s | 24,233 kWh | 32 years |
| 40 m | 7.03 m/s | 27,288 kWh | 28 years |
| 50 m | 7.38 m/s | 29,714 kWh | 26 years |
Counties around Sheridan County
2 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Grant County, averages 6.73 m/s.
- Dawes County, NE: 6.59 m/s, 24,069 kWh, payback 32 years (41 mi)
- Box Butte County, NE: 6.38 m/s, 22,521 kWh, payback 34 years (42 mi)
- Grant County, NE: 6.73 m/s, 25,093 kWh, payback 31 years (52 mi)
- Oglala Lakota County, SD: 5.99 m/s, 19,630 kWh, payback 35 years (58 mi)
- Bennett County, SD: 6.73 m/s, 25,093 kWh, payback 27 years (58 mi)
- Garden County, NE: 6.34 m/s, 22,225 kWh, payback 35 years (61 mi)
Sun versus wind in Sheridan County
Sheridan County gets 4.51 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,317 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 2,422. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.8 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.