Wind Turbine Payback in Webb County, TX
Wind turbine payback in Webb 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 Webb County, TX averages 5.68 m/s (12.7 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 17,345 kWh a year, worth $2,780 at TX's 16.03¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 36 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Webb County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Webb County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.6 m/s at the hub against 5.68 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,492 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,735, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 29¢/kWh, 1.8 times what TX pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.6 m/s instead of 5.68. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of TX
Webb County is the 1,140th 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 Webb County
May is the strongest month here, at 6.31 m/s and about 1,871 kWh. September is the weakest, 5.00 m/s and 1,033 kWh, so the best month makes 1.8 times the worst. November to March brings in 37% of the year's output in Webb County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.24 m/s | 1,204 kWh | $193 |
| February | 5.51 m/s | 1,234 kWh | $198 |
| March | 6.02 m/s | 1,685 kWh | $270 |
| April | 6.31 m/s | 1,811 kWh | $290 |
| May | 6.31 m/s | 1,871 kWh | $300 |
| June | 6.15 m/s | 1,713 kWh | $275 |
| July | 6.05 m/s | 1,702 kWh | $273 |
| August | 5.59 m/s | 1,416 kWh | $227 |
| September | 5.00 m/s | 1,033 kWh | $166 |
| October | 5.41 m/s | 1,306 kWh | $209 |
| November | 5.35 m/s | 1,232 kWh | $197 |
| December | 5.15 m/s | 1,151 kWh | $185 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Webb County averages 4.49 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.33 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.213, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 13,960 to 22,151 kWh a year, 59% 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 | 5.21 m/s | 13,960 kWh | 45 years |
| 30 m | 5.68 m/s | 17,326 kWh | 36 years |
| 40 m | 6.04 m/s | 19,972 kWh | 31 years |
| 50 m | 6.33 m/s | 22,151 kWh | 28 years |
Counties around Webb County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Jim Hogg County, averages 6.03 m/s.
- La Salle County, TX: 5.41 m/s, 15,390 kWh, payback 41 years (43 mi)
- Duval County, TX: 5.98 m/s, 19,556 kWh, payback 32 years (52 mi)
- Dimmit County, TX: 5.36 m/s, 15,034 kWh, payback 42 years (53 mi)
- Zapata County, TX: 5.93 m/s, 19,186 kWh, payback 33 years (54 mi)
- Jim Hogg County, TX: 6.03 m/s, 19,926 kWh, payback 31 years (61 mi)
- McMullen County, TX: 5.49 m/s, 15,965 kWh, payback 39 years (63 mi)
Sun versus wind in Webb County
Webb County gets 5.11 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,492 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,735. This is one of the rare places where a kilowatt of turbine out-produces a kilowatt of panels, by 1.2 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.