Is wind turbine a waste of material and time?

The location does not look to be a problem, it is outside, and not directly next to a wall.
Are you playing the recent version? I had to up the power of the wind turbine in https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/pull/27846
As they were balanced around the previous wind, before I changed the way wind worked.
It could just be that your going through a wind-less period of time, it happens.
Changes to the UI comign soon should show a rough idea of wind strength
Alterntively you could debug in a weather reader item or CBM and check.
If the wind is above 7 or 8 mph your gonna get a steady flow - around the same as a solar panel.
As long as a wind turbine is not in a forest, and not DIRECTLY next to a wall, it should still work fine, and being next to a wall will only hinder the turbine if the wind is blowing from the walls direction.