Wind Turbine Payback in Winn Parish, LA
Wind turbine payback in Winn 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 Winn Parish, LA averages 3.19 m/s (7.1 mph). A 10 kW turbine there would make about 3,198 kWh a year, worth $424 at LA's 13.27¢/kWh. Against an installed cost of about $100,000, that is a payback of over 100 years, and the turbine is built to last about 20.
What to do in Winn Parish
A home turbine is not worth buying for savings in Winn Parish unless your spot is far windier than the county average, 8.6 m/s at the hub against 3.19 m/s here. Per kW, solar panels would make about 1,337 kWh a year here against the turbine's 320, so get a solar quote first.
What would have to change
- Power would have to cost 156¢/kWh, 11.8 times what LA pays now.
- Or the average wind at the hub would have to be 8.6 m/s instead of 3.19. A taller tower or an exposed ridge can add some of that; a rooftop never will.
Against the rest of LA
Winn Parish is the 2,888th 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 Winn Parish
April is the strongest month here, at 3.66 m/s and about 411 kWh. July is the weakest, 2.58 m/s and 129 kWh, so the best month makes 3.2 times the worst. November to March brings in 52% of the year's output in Winn Parish.
| Month | Wind at 30 m | Output | Worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.40 m/s | 336 kWh | $45 |
| February | 3.52 m/s | 338 kWh | $45 |
| March | 3.60 m/s | 402 kWh | $53 |
| April | 3.66 m/s | 411 kWh | $55 |
| May | 3.23 m/s | 283 kWh | $38 |
| June | 2.83 m/s | 174 kWh | $23 |
| July | 2.58 m/s | 129 kWh | $17 |
| August | 2.67 m/s | 147 kWh | $20 |
| September | 2.95 m/s | 203 kWh | $27 |
| October | 3.16 m/s | 263 kWh | $35 |
| November | 3.36 m/s | 310 kWh | $41 |
| December | 3.38 m/s | 328 kWh | $44 |
What a taller tower would buy
Measured at 10 m the wind in Winn Parish averages 1.9 m/s; at 50 m it is 4.06 m/s. That gives a shear exponent of 0.472, typical of rough, sheltered ground: trees or buildings slow the low wind a lot. Going from 20 m to 50 m takes output from 1,643 to 6,883 kWh a year, 319% 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 | 2.63 m/s | 1,643 kWh | over 100 years |
| 30 m | 3.19 m/s | 3,199 kWh | over 100 years |
| 40 m | 3.65 m/s | 4,965 kWh | over 100 years |
| 50 m | 4.06 m/s | 6,883 kWh | over 100 years |
Counties around Winn Parish
5 of the 6 closest counties are windier at turbine height; the windiest, Caldwell Parish, averages 4.29 m/s.
- Grant Parish, LA: 3.39 m/s, 3,905 kWh, payback over 100 years (24 mi)
- Jackson Parish, LA: 3.26 m/s, 3,436 kWh, payback over 100 years (26 mi)
- Natchitoches Parish, LA: 3.32 m/s, 3,648 kWh, payback over 100 years (30 mi)
- Caldwell Parish, LA: 4.29 m/s, 8,120 kWh, payback 93 years (33 mi)
- LaSalle Parish, LA: 4.14 m/s, 7,301 kWh, payback over 100 years (33 mi)
- Bienville Parish, LA: 3.16 m/s, 3,099 kWh, payback over 100 years (36 mi)
Sun versus wind in Winn Parish
Winn Parish gets 4.58 kWh of sunshine per square metre a day on average. One kW of solar panels here would make roughly 1,337 kWh a year; one kW of the turbine above makes 320. Kilowatt for kilowatt, panels make 4.2 times as much here as the turbine. 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.