Wind Turbine Payback in Vermilion Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Vermilion 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 Vermilion Parish, LA averages 5.37 m/s (12 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 15,105 kWh a year, worth $2,004 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 50 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Vermilion Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Vermilion Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 5.37 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,410 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,511, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 33¢/kWh, 2.5 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 5.37. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Vermilion Parish is the 1,295th 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 Vermilion Parish
January is the strongest month here, at 6.19 m/s and about 1,795 kWh. July is the weakest, 3.93 m/s and 531 kWh, so the best month makes 3.4 times the worst. November to March brings in 55% of the year's output in Vermilion Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.19 m/s | 1,795 kWh | $238 |
| February | 6.31 m/s | 1,688 kWh | $224 |
| March | 6.16 m/s | 1,772 kWh | $235 |
| April | 6.22 m/s | 1,754 kWh | $233 |
| May | 5.45 m/s | 1,334 kWh | $177 |
| June | 4.47 m/s | 755 kWh | $100 |
| July | 3.93 m/s | 531 kWh | $70 |
| August | 3.94 m/s | 534 kWh | $71 |
| September | 4.60 m/s | 817 kWh | $108 |
| October | 5.19 m/s | 1,177 kWh | $156 |
| November | 5.80 m/s | 1,496 kWh | $199 |
| December | 6.17 m/s | 1,784 kWh | $237 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Vermilion Parish averages 4.28 m/s; at 50 m it is 5.96 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.206, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 12,097 to 19,408 kWh a year, 60% 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 | 4.93 m/s | 12,097 kWh | 62 years |
| 30 m | 5.36 m/s | 15,067 kWh | 50 years |
| 40 m | 5.69 m/s | 17,435 kWh | 43 years |
| 50 m | 5.96 m/s | 19,408 kWh | 39 years |
Counties around Vermilion Parish
1 of the 6 closest counties is windier at turbine height; the windiest, Iberia Parish, averages 5.86 m/s.
- Lafayette Parish, LA: 5.19 m/s, 13,837 kWh, payback 55 years (32 mi)
- Iberia Parish, LA: 5.86 m/s, 18,669 kWh, payback 40 years (32 mi)
- Acadia Parish, LA: 4.4 m/s, 8,748 kWh, payback 86 years (34 mi)
- Jefferson Davis Parish, LA: 3.83 m/s, 5,753 kWh, payback over 100 years (44 mi)
- St. Martin Parish, LA: 5.19 m/s, 13,837 kWh, payback 55 years (48 mi)
- Cameron Parish, LA: 5.34 m/s, 14,892 kWh, payback 51 years (51 mi)
Sun versus wind in Vermilion Parish
Vermilion Parish gets 4.83 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,410 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,511. 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.