New York power

Generates renewable electricity from sunlight, supporting New York communities and producing enough electricity for about 220 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 Sterlington Greenworks LLC in Calverton, Suffolk County, ranks #457 of 567 by 2024 electricity produced. It’s a solar photovoltaic plant, meaning panels that turn sunlight directly into electricity, with no fuel burned. It began operating in 2015 and is owned by AES Distributed Energy.

Its capacity is 1.3 MW, which is the most power it can deliver at one moment under ideal sunshine. Over 2024 it produced 2.2 gigawatt-hours, a unit of energy equal to a billion watt-hours, and that is enough for about 220 homes. The output reaches customers through PSEG Long Island.

Environmental impact

Produces electricity without burning fuel, which avoids roughly 830 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 97,000 gallons of gasoline.*

Nearby places worth exploring

Calverton sits on Long Island’s East End, within reach of the Hamptons, Montauk Point, and the North Fork wine country. Fire Island’s beaches and Stony Brook University are also in Suffolk County.

Local school district

Southold 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.