Onondaga County Resource Recovery

Onondaga County Resource Recovery is a 40 MW waste power plant in New York, United States of America. It is operated by Covanta Onondega LP. Based on reported annual generation of 223 GWh, it can supply roughly 64k homes. It ranks #4029 of 10,938 United States of America power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1994, it is around 32 years old — long-established. In context, the national grid averages 384 gCO₂/kWh (43.0% low-carbon) (2025).

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id USA0050662.

Data provenance

The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.

capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000814342); fuel: WRI source-record fuel

In context: how this plant compares

At 40 MW, Onondaga County Resource Recovery is well above the median waste plant in United States of America (7 MW). Waste-to-energy plants burn municipal solid waste to generate electricity and heat, cutting landfill volume while recovering energy from residual waste.

Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.

Reported generation trend

Annual generation (GWh), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Covanta Onondega LP.

Local climate & thermal context

This waste plant recovers energy by combusting municipal or industrial waste. It sits in a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 43.0°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

Monthly mean temperature

Heating degree-days here run 58% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.

Climate heat-demand index: 83/100 — this site sits in the top third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.

Site climate & environmental severity

For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a mild atmospheric environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C2 — Low), with thermal cycling the leading environmental stress.

Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.

Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #86 largest waste power plant of 551 in United States of America by capacity.

United States of America has 551 waste power plants in this dataset, together about 10,154 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

• Onondaga County- Jamesville · Solar · 2 MW · New York
• Carr Street Generating Station · Gas · 123 MW · New York
• Trigen Syracuse Plant · Coal · 91 MW · New York
• CH Resources Syracuse · Gas · 103 MW · New York
• Lockheed Martin RMS Syracuse · Storage · 1 MW · New York
• Onondaga County - Oak Orchard WWTP · Solar · 2 MW · New York

Location

Coordinates 43.0047, -76.1149 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

Frequently asked questions