Wind Turbine Payback in St. Bernard Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in St. Bernard 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 St. Bernard Parish, LA averages 5.27 m/s (11.8 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 14,397 kWh a year, worth $1,910 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 52 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in St. Bernard Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in St. Bernard Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 5.27 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,369 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,440, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 35¢/kWh, 2.6 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 5.27. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
St. Bernard Parish is the 1,333rd 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 St. Bernard Parish
January is the strongest month here, at 6.19 m/s and about 1,796 kWh. July is the weakest, 3.92 m/s and 527 kWh, so the best month makes 3.4 times the worst. November to March brings in 56% of the year's output in St. Bernard Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.19 m/s | 1,796 kWh | $238 |
| February | 6.13 m/s | 1,585 kWh | $210 |
| March | 5.93 m/s | 1,631 kWh | $216 |
| April | 5.81 m/s | 1,505 kWh | $200 |
| May | 5.02 m/s | 1,074 kWh | $143 |
| June | 4.29 m/s | 667 kWh | $89 |
| July | 3.92 m/s | 527 kWh | $70 |
| August | 4.01 m/s | 562 kWh | $75 |
| September | 4.76 m/s | 898 kWh | $119 |
| October | 5.37 m/s | 1,284 kWh | $170 |
| November | 5.76 m/s | 1,477 kWh | $196 |
| December | 6.12 m/s | 1,749 kWh | $232 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in St. Bernard Parish averages 4.55 m/s; at 50 m it is 5.64 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.133, typical of very open, smooth ground where height adds little. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 12,487 to 17,053 kWh a year, 37% 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 | 4.99 m/s | 12,487 kWh | 60 years |
| 30 m | 5.27 m/s | 14,394 kWh | 52 years |
| 40 m | 5.48 m/s | 15,857 kWh | 48 years |
| 50 m | 5.64 m/s | 17,053 kWh | 44 years |
Counties around St. Bernard Parish
1 of the 6 closest counties is windier at turbine height; the windiest, Plaquemines Parish, averages 5.81 m/s.
- Hancock County, MS: 3.35 m/s, 3,757 kWh, payback over 100 years (35 mi)
- Harrison County, MS: 3.35 m/s, 3,757 kWh, payback over 100 years (36 mi)
- Orleans Parish, LA: 5.08 m/s, 13,078 kWh, payback 58 years (41 mi)
- Plaquemines Parish, LA: 5.81 m/s, 18,300 kWh, payback 41 years (48 mi)
- Jackson County, MS: 4.9 m/s, 11,866 kWh, payback 56 years (53 mi)
- St. Tammany Parish, LA: 3.07 m/s, 2,813 kWh, payback over 100 years (53 mi)
Sun versus wind in St. Bernard Parish
St. Bernard Parish gets 4.69 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,369 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,440. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.1 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.