New York power

Generates renewable electricity from the Oswego River, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 910 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Oswego County

Oswego County has a population of 118,162. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 24,364 cases in the county.

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

Federal monitoring recorded 256 days of good air quality and 8 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 142 hydropower plants, and the Phoenix Hydro Project, on the Oswego River in Phoenix, ranks #106 of 142 by the electricity it produced in 2024. It began operating in 1991 and is owned by Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, LLC. Hydropower simply means using flowing river water to spin a turbine that generates electricity, and this plant is a conventional hydroelectric design with 2 generators.

Its capacity is 3.2 MW, a megawatt being a measure of the most power a plant can deliver at once. Over the year it produced 9.1 gigawatt-hours, a gigawatt-hour being a large unit of electricity, which is about 910 homes’ worth of use. Because it runs on river water rather than burning fuel, the plant is carbon-free.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 3,500 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 410,000 gallons of gasoline.*

Nearby places worth exploring

Phoenix sits in Oswego County, not far from the city of Oswego, home to SUNY Oswego on the shore of Lake Ontario. Fort Ontario overlooks the harbor there. Selkirk Shores State Park and the Salmon River draw anglers and campers.

Local school district

Phoenix 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.