New York power

Generates renewable electricity from sunlight, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 280 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Suffolk County

Suffolk County has a population of 1,523,170. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 316,289 cases in the county.

The county received a grade of F for ozone pollution. For particle pollution — the fine soot and dust that can be breathed deep into the lungs — it received a grade of A.

Federal monitoring recorded 235 days of good air quality and 76 moderate days in the county over the most recent year, with 3 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 the one in Deer Park, Suffolk County, ranks #392 of 567 by how much electricity it produced in 2024. It has run since 2012 and uses solar photovoltaic technology, which means panels that turn sunlight directly into electricity with no moving parts.

Its capacity is 2.5 MW (a megawatt is a measure of the most power it can deliver at one moment, enough to run a lot of household appliances at once). Over the year it produced 2.8 gigawatt-hours, which is roughly the electricity used by about 280 homes. The power flows to customers served by PSEG Long Island.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 1,100 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year compared with producing the same electricity from the national mix of power sources — about the same as the carbon absorbed by about 1,100 acres of forest in a year.*

Nearby places worth exploring

Deer Park sits in Suffolk County on Long Island, within reach of Fire Island’s beaches and Stony Brook University. Farther east, the county stretches to the Hamptons, Montauk Point, and the North Fork wine country.

Local school district

Central Islip Union Free 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.