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Profile
New York power
Produced 673.5 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2024 — enough electricity for about 67,000 homes for a year.*
Air quality & health in Yates County
Yates County has a population of 24,472. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 5,228 cases in the county.
No ozone or particle pollution grades are available for this county in the most recent report. The figures above describe how many residents live with conditions sensitive to air quality — not measured pollution levels.
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 power plant
New York has 100 natural gas power plants. This one, on the shore of Seneca Lake at Dresden, ranks 20th among them by electricity produced, and its single steam turbine has been running since 1953.
A steam turbine works by burning fuel to boil water into steam, which spins the turbine to make electricity; the plant draws its cooling water from Seneca Lake. In 2024 it produced 673.5 gigawatt-hours — about what 67,000 homes use in a year.
Generation profile
The plant can produce 112 megawatts of electricity at once from a single generating unit. In 2024 it produced 673.5 gigawatt-hours in total, which works out to about 69% of what it could have produced running flat out all year — the pattern of a plant that runs through much of the year.
Nearby places worth exploring
Dresden sits on the west shore of Seneca Lake, in the heart of Finger Lakes wine country, with tasting rooms lining the lake roads in both directions. Penn Yan and Keuka Lake are a short drive west, and Watkins Glen, with its gorge state park, anchors the southern end of the lake.
Local school district
Penn Yan Central School District
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* 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.
