New York power

Generates renewable electricity from sunlight, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 580 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Orange County

Orange County has a population of 407,470. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 78,693 cases in the county.

No ozone grade is available for the county in the most recent report. For particle pollution — the fine soot and dust that can be breathed deep into the lungs — it received a grade of B.

Federal monitoring recorded 228 days of good air quality and 38 moderate days in the county over the most recent year, with 1 day 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 RT 52 Walden Solar 1 in Montgomery, Orange County, ranks #204 of 567 by 2024 electricity produced. It began operating in 2019 and is owned by AES Distributed Energy, with a rated capacity of 9.0 MW (megawatts, a measure of the most power a plant can deliver at one moment).

The site uses solar photovoltaic panels, which turn sunlight directly into electricity, along with batteries that store power for later. In 2024 it produced 5.8 gigawatt-hours (a unit of electricity; one gigawatt-hour is a million kilowatt-hours), about 580 homes’ worth of yearly use.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 2,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year compared with producing the same electricity from the national mix of power sources — about the same as taking about 480 cars off the road for a year.*

Nearby places worth exploring

Montgomery sits in the Hudson Valley, a region known for West Point, Storm King Art Center, and Bear Mountain and Harriman state parks. Middletown, the county’s commercial hub, is a short drive away for shopping and dining.

Local school district

Valley Central School District (Montgomery)

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.