New York power

Generates renewable electricity from sunlight, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 250 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Oneida County

Oneida County has a population of 227,555. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 47,467 cases in the county.

Federal monitoring recorded 211 days of good air quality and 50 moderate days in the county over the most recent year, with 0 days rated unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Long-term exposure to air pollution has been linked to certain health conditions, particularly for children and older adults. Where electricity comes from affects how much combustion pollution is produced on the grid.

These figures describe the county as a whole and are not specific to this facility. Sources: American Lung Association – State of the Air (New York); U.S. EPA Air Quality Index.

The story behind this New York renewable energy facility

New York has 567 solar plants in this category, and Oneida – South, a solar farm in Whitestown, ranks #421 of 567 by 2024 electricity produced. It uses solar photovoltaic technology, which means panels that turn sunlight directly into electricity with no moving parts. The site began operating in 2015 and is owned by Oneida DG Solar, LLC.

In 2024 it produced 2.5 gigawatt-hours, which is a way of counting a large amount of electricity, enough to power about 250 homes. Its capacity is 1.9 MW, a megawatt being the most power the plant can deliver at one moment. Sunlight varies with weather and seasons, so over the year it ran at about 15 percent of that peak, which is typical for solar. The electricity feeds into National Grid’s local system.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 960 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year compared with producing the same electricity from the national mix of power sources — about the same as keeping about 370 tons of waste out of a landfill.*

Nearby places worth exploring

Whitestown sits in the Mohawk Valley, close to Utica and Rome. Rome is home to Fort Stanwix National Monument and has ties to the Erie Canal. The eastern shore of Oneida Lake also touches the county.

Local school district

Oriskany Central School District

Common questions

* Homes-powered and emissions comparisons are annual estimates based on national averages from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Homes powered” describes a quantity of electricity, not direct service to specific households. How we calculate this.