New York power

Generates renewable electricity from sunlight, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 240 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Jefferson County

Jefferson County has a population of 114,787. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 21,824 cases in the county.

The county received a grade of B for ozone pollution. No particle pollution grade is available.

Federal monitoring recorded 255 days of good air quality and 16 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 St. Lawrence University – Sutton, on County Route 67 in Watertown, ranks #436 of 567 by the electricity it produced in 2024. It uses solar photovoltaic technology, meaning panels that turn sunlight directly into electricity, with no fuel burned.

The plant began operating in 2018 and is owned by AES Distributed Energy. It can produce up to 2.0 MW at once, a measure of its peak output. Over the year it generated 2.4 gigawatt-hours, a unit of energy equal to about 240 homes’ yearly use. It ran at a capacity factor of 14%, which compares its actual output to what it would make if it ran at full strength every hour.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 920 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year compared with producing the same electricity from the national mix of power sources — about the same as not burning about 110,000 gallons of gasoline.*

Nearby places worth exploring

Watertown sits in the heart of the Thousand Islands region, where the St. Lawrence River draws visitors to resort villages like Clayton and Alexandria Bay. Sackets Harbor, on the shore of Lake Ontario, is also an easy trip from the city.

Local school district

South Jefferson 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.