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The Ballpark Cost

Small wind turbines come in many sizes, from units as small as 300 watts (W) all the way up to units of 300 kilowatts (kW). That's a lot of choices!>

Your first step is to determine what would meet your needs and what you can afford. This is similar to buying a new vehicle: 1) first you figure out what size of vehicle you need (e.g. scooter, compact car, mini van, pick-up truck, bus); 2) then you find out roughly how much it will cost; 3) then you decide if you can afford to keep looking at that type of vehicle. Our Ballpark Cost Calculator helps you determine the same thing, except for small wind turbines!

Click here to launch the Calculator.

Here's how the Calculator works:

1. Enter your postal code and electricity use.
2. The calculator looks up the wind performance and electricity rates in your area and examines how FOUR typical turbine sizes (400 W, 1 kW, 10 kW, and 50 kW) would perform in your area.
3. The calculator displays an EXAMPLE turbine package with the best simple payback that would meet up to 50% of your electricity needs using a maximum of 5 turbines.
4. Pay attention to the Total Installed Cost and Total Rated Power for Turbine Package displayed. If the Results show 5 turbines for your situation, it doesn't mean you should BUY 5 turbines! It means you may need to look at a turbine size other than the four typical turbine sizes included in the Calculator.
5. Play with the Turbine Size (choose among the four listed) and Number of Turbines to explore the cost implications and the amount/percent of your electricity each turbine package could supply. Each time you change a number, it recalculates all the values for you.
6. Decide if you can afford a turbine that's big enough to supply the amount of electricity you would want. If it's within your price range, print the Results page for the package that best suits your needs and continue with Stage 2: The Crucial Stuff!

This calculator does NOT consider every size of turbine and does NOT suggest you must choose a particular size right now... it is meant only to give you an IDEA of price and turbine size while you continue exploring your energy requirements and how you plan to use it. Later, in Stage 3 of the planning process, you'll figure out the EXACT size you need and what it will cost.