New York power

Generates renewable electricity from sunlight, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 820 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Albany County

Albany County has a population of 316,659. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 64,742 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 184 days of good air quality and 84 moderate days in the county over the most recent year, with 5 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

RT405 Westerlo Solar 2 is one of 567 solar plants in New York, and it ranks #71 of 567 by electricity produced in 2024. It sits on Route 32 and uses solar photovoltaic technology, meaning panels that turn sunlight directly into electricity with no fuel burned. It began operating in 2020 and has a capacity of 5.0 MW, which is the most power it can deliver at any one moment.

Over 2024 it produced 8.2 gigawatt-hours of electricity, a gigawatt-hour being a large unit of energy equal to a million kilowatt-hours. That is enough to power about 820 homes. Solar plants only generate while the sun is out, so their output rises and falls with the daylight and the seasons.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 3,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year compared with producing the same electricity from the national mix of power sources — about the same as not burning about 3,300,000 pounds of coal.*

Nearby places worth exploring

The plant is in Albany County, not far from Albany, the state capital, home to the Empire State Plaza and the University at Albany. The Hudson River waterfront is close by, and Thacher State Park sits in the Helderberg hills for anyone who likes a scenic outing.

Local school district

Greenville 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.