Under the accord, the agency would close Shoreham, and would build up to three oil- or gas-fired generators on Long Island.

Now, most new electricity sources - from midsize gas-fired generators to clusters of windmills - are built by outside producers, essentially on spec.

Mr. Spano said the county would offer Entergy unspecified incentives to close the reactors and replace them with gas-fired generators.

The company was also the first in the industry to make a gas-fired generator to electrify pipelines so they wouldn't corrode so much.

New, more efficient gas-fired generators made natural gas not only a cleaner alternative to oil and coal for power plants but often cheaper, too.

The company was also the first in the industry to develop a gas-fired generator to produce electricity for cathodic protection to fight corrosion on pipelines.

The American Gas Association has argued that stringent rules may block a factory from installing gas-fired generators, because making them clean enough for current standards is difficult.

The station will use two gas-fired generators, with excess heat being used to make steam to drive a further generator.

The window was dusty and the interior badly lit, despite the ville's electrical power, all of it provided by a huge gas-fired generator on the edge of town.

The waste heat given off by the gas-fired generator is captured and used to run boilers that heat the building.