Wind Turbine Payback in Val Verde County, TX
Wind turbine payback in Val Verde 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 Val Verde County, TX averages 6.01 m/s (13.4 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 19,778 kWh a year, worth $3,170 at TX's 16.03¢/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 Val Verde County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Val Verde County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.6 m/s at the hub against 6.01 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,551 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,978, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 25¢/kWh, 1.6 times what TX pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.6 m/s instead of 6.01. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of TX
Val Verde County is the 826th windiest of 3,144 US counties at turbine height; the national middle is 4.79 m/s. The windiest in TX is Dallam County at 6.82 m/s, payback 24 years.
Month by month in Val Verde County
April is the strongest month here, at 6.74 m/s and about 2,070 kWh. December is the weakest, 5.45 m/s and 1,334 kWh, so the best month makes 1.6 times the worst. November to March brings in 38% of the year's output in Val Verde County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.52 m/s | 1,373 kWh | $220 |
| February | 5.93 m/s | 1,473 kWh | $236 |
| March | 6.34 m/s | 1,886 kWh | $302 |
| April | 6.74 m/s | 2,070 kWh | $332 |
| May | 6.61 m/s | 2,055 kWh | $329 |
| June | 6.60 m/s | 1,984 kWh | $318 |
| July | 6.14 m/s | 1,761 kWh | $282 |
| August | 5.76 m/s | 1,523 kWh | $244 |
| September | 5.54 m/s | 1,339 kWh | $215 |
| October | 5.89 m/s | 1,602 kWh | $257 |
| November | 5.71 m/s | 1,442 kWh | $231 |
| December | 5.45 m/s | 1,334 kWh | $214 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Val Verde County averages 4.81 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.67 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.203, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 16,311 to 24,655 kWh a year, 51% 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 | 5.54 m/s | 16,311 kWh | 38 years |
| 30 m | 6.01 m/s | 19,800 kWh | 32 years |
| 40 m | 6.37 m/s | 22,481 kWh | 28 years |
| 50 m | 6.67 m/s | 24,655 kWh | 25 years |
Counties around Val Verde County
4 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Schleicher County, averages 6.39 m/s.
- Edwards County, TX: 6.07 m/s, 20,223 kWh, payback 31 years (51 mi)
- Kinney County, TX: 5.78 m/s, 18,079 kWh, payback 35 years (57 mi)
- Sutton County, TX: 6.28 m/s, 21,781 kWh, payback 29 years (58 mi)
- Crockett County, TX: 6.23 m/s, 21,410 kWh, payback 29 years (60 mi)
- Terrell County, TX: 5.56 m/s, 16,471 kWh, payback 38 years (61 mi)
- Schleicher County, TX: 6.39 m/s, 22,595 kWh, payback 28 years (80 mi)
Sun versus wind in Val Verde County
Val Verde County gets 5.31 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,551 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,978. 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.