Northport power station is National Grid’s largest power station and its largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions. Its four 375-megawatt turbine generators produce a major portion of Long Island’s annual electric generation.

As is the case with many fossil fuel generating plants in the US, these generators were built in the 1960s and 1970s, and have been significantly updated to reduce emissions.

Compared to similar generating units in the US, we’re a relatively low emitter of CO2, in large part because of the ongoing investments we’ve made over the years. But we continue to work to reduce them even further here and at the other plants we own.

The focal point of the reduction efforts is more efficient Dense Pack™ steam turbine unit, manufactured by General Electric. The new turbine contains nine rows of blades instead of the conventional seven. The extra rows provide greater mechanical energy from the same amount of steam, which creates more electricity from the same amount of fuel. The end result is a more efficient process and less carbon emissions.

The £27-£30 million project, which includes a new turbine for each of the four generators, will come online in stages.  The first new turbine will be in operation late this winter, with the three remaining completed yearly through to the spring of 2013. Once installed, the four new turbines will cut annual CO2 emissions by 91,000 to 136,000 tonnes, the equivalent of removing some 25,000 US cars from the road.