Wind Turbine Payback in Uinta County, WY
Wind turbine payback in Uinta 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 Uinta County, WY averages 5.84 m/s (13.1 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 18,521 kWh a year, worth $2,595 at WY's 14.01¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 39 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Uinta County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Uinta County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.3 m/s at the hub against 5.84 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,390 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,852, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 27¢/kWh, 1.9 times what WY pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.3 m/s instead of 5.84. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of WY
Uinta County is the 1,040th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in WY is Albany County at 7.32 m/s, payback 24 years.
Month by month in Uinta County
January is the strongest month here, at 6.68 m/s and about 2,097 kWh. July is the weakest, 4.54 m/s and 815 kWh, so the best month makes 2.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 53% of the year's output in Uinta County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.68 m/s | 2,097 kWh | $294 |
| February | 6.72 m/s | 1,919 kWh | $269 |
| March | 6.53 m/s | 2,008 kWh | $281 |
| April | 6.25 m/s | 1,774 kWh | $249 |
| May | 5.33 m/s | 1,259 kWh | $176 |
| June | 5.47 m/s | 1,298 kWh | $182 |
| July | 4.54 m/s | 815 kWh | $114 |
| August | 4.68 m/s | 886 kWh | $124 |
| September | 5.25 m/s | 1,172 kWh | $164 |
| October | 5.88 m/s | 1,597 kWh | $224 |
| November | 6.32 m/s | 1,813 kWh | $254 |
| December | 6.51 m/s | 1,997 kWh | $280 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Uinta County averages 4.61 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.52 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 14,992 to 23,554 kWh a year, 57% 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 | 5.35 m/s | 14,992 kWh | 48 years |
| 30 m | 5.84 m/s | 18,535 kWh | 39 years |
| 40 m | 6.21 m/s | 21,296 kWh | 34 years |
| 50 m | 6.52 m/s | 23,554 kWh | 30 years |
Counties around Uinta County
None of the 6 closest counties is windier than Uinta County.
- Summit County, UT: 3.82 m/s, 5,707 kWh, payback over 100 years (36 mi)
- Rich County, UT: 4.61 m/s, 10,008 kWh, payback 76 years (42 mi)
- Morgan County, UT: 3.22 m/s, 3,299 kWh, payback over 100 years (55 mi)
- Daggett County, UT: 5.32 m/s, 14,750 kWh, payback 51 years (61 mi)
- Lincoln County, WY: 4.83 m/s, 11,407 kWh, payback 63 years (66 mi)
- Weber County, UT: 3.08 m/s, 2,844 kWh, payback over 100 years (68 mi)
Sun versus wind in Uinta County
Uinta County gets 4.76 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,390 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,852. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.3 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.