Wind Turbine Payback in Winkler County, TX
Wind turbine payback in Winkler 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 Winkler County, TX averages 5.77 m/s (12.9 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 18,006 kWh a year, worth $2,886 at TX's 16.03¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of 35 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Winkler County
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Winkler County unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 7.6 m/s at the hub against 5.77 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,641 kWh a year here against the turbine's 1,801, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 28¢/kWh, 1.7 times what TX pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 7.6 m/s instead of 5.77. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of TX
Winkler County is the 1,088th 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 Winkler County
April is the strongest month here, at 6.61 m/s and about 1,993 kWh. August is the weakest, 5.14 m/s and 1,144 kWh, so the best month makes 1.7 times the worst. November to March brings in 42% of the year's output in Winkler County.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.74 m/s | 1,509 kWh | $242 |
| February | 6.02 m/s | 1,525 kWh | $244 |
| March | 6.24 m/s | 1,824 kWh | $292 |
| April | 6.61 m/s | 1,993 kWh | $319 |
| May | 6.15 m/s | 1,767 kWh | $283 |
| June | 5.99 m/s | 1,612 kWh | $258 |
| July | 5.50 m/s | 1,365 kWh | $219 |
| August | 5.14 m/s | 1,144 kWh | $183 |
| September | 5.23 m/s | 1,159 kWh | $186 |
| October | 5.50 m/s | 1,359 kWh | $218 |
| November | 5.55 m/s | 1,348 kWh | $216 |
| December | 5.66 m/s | 1,459 kWh | $234 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Winkler County averages 4.55 m/s; at 50 m it is 6.45 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.217, typical of ordinary open country. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 14,516 to 23,038 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 | 5.29 m/s | 14,516 kWh | 43 years |
| 30 m | 5.77 m/s | 18,029 kWh | 35 years |
| 40 m | 6.15 m/s | 20,780 kWh | 30 years |
| 50 m | 6.45 m/s | 23,038 kWh | 27 years |
Counties around Winkler County
3 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Ector County, averages 6.12 m/s.
- Ward County, TX: 5.53 m/s, 16,254 kWh, payback 38 years (22 mi)
- Loving County, TX: 5.4 m/s, 15,319 kWh, payback 41 years (30 mi)
- Ector County, TX: 6.12 m/s, 20,594 kWh, payback 30 years (30 mi)
- Andrews County, TX: 6.11 m/s, 20,520 kWh, payback 30 years (41 mi)
- Crane County, TX: 6.06 m/s, 20,149 kWh, payback 31 years (44 mi)
- Reeves County, TX: 5.48 m/s, 15,893 kWh, payback 39 years (53 mi)
Sun versus wind in Winkler County
Winkler County gets 5.62 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,641 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 1,801. 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.