New York power

Generates renewable electricity from sunlight, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 640 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Monroe County

Monroe County has a population of 748,482. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 154,303 cases in the county.

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

Federal monitoring recorded 195 days of good air quality and 72 moderate days in the county over the most recent year, with 7 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

Out of 567 solar plants in New York, this one in Hilton, Monroe County, ranks #171 by how much electricity it produced in 2024. Monroe County Sites C, D, & E is a solar photovoltaic installation, which means panels that turn sunlight directly into electricity with no moving parts. It has operated since 2017 under owner AES Distributed Energy, with a capacity of 6.0 MW (a megawatt is a measure of the most power a plant can deliver at one moment).

In 2024 it generated 6.4 gigawatt-hours, a unit of electricity over time, which is about 640 homes’ worth of power for a year. Because the sun doesn’t shine around the clock, plants like this typically run well below their maximum, and this one’s capacity factor, the share of its top output it actually delivers over a year, was 12 percent.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 2,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year compared with producing the same electricity from the national mix of power sources — about the same as the carbon absorbed by about 2,600 acres of forest in a year.*

Nearby places worth exploring

Hilton sits in the Rochester area, home to the University of Rochester and RIT, along with Highland Park and the Lake Ontario shoreline. Erie Canal villages such as Pittford and Fairport line the canal path, a pleasant stretch for walking or biking.

Local school district

Hilton 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.