New York power

Produced 45.4 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2024 — enough electricity for about 4,500 homes for a year.*

Air quality & health in Nassau County

Nassau County has a population of 1,381,715. Across five conditions the American Lung Association tracks — childhood asthma, adult asthma, COPD, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease — it reports a combined 287,550 cases in the county.

Federal monitoring recorded 1 days of good air quality and 0 moderate days in the county over the most recent year, with 0 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 power plant

New York has 100 natural gas plants in this category, and Equus Freeport Power, at 289 Buffalo Avenue in the Village of Freeport, sits right in the middle of the pack, ranking #50 of 100 by 2024 electricity produced. It began operating in 2004 and uses a Natural Gas Fired Combustion Turbine, which is essentially a jet-style engine that burns fuel to spin a generator. Its capacity is 120.0 MW, a megawatt being a measure of how much power a plant can deliver at one moment.

In 2024 it generated 45.4 gigawatt-hours, a unit for a large amount of electricity over time, enough for about 4,500 homes. Its fuel mix is mostly natural gas, with kerosene making up the rest. Plants like this are often called on when demand rises, rather than running around the clock.

Generation profile

The plant can produce 120 megawatts of electricity at once, across 2 generating units. In 2024 it produced 45.4 gigawatt-hours in total, which works out to about 4% of what it could have produced running flat out all year — the pattern of a plant that runs only during periods of high demand.

Nearby places worth exploring

Freeport sits on Long Island’s South Shore, not far from Jones Beach State Park and the city of Long Beach along the Atlantic shore. Elsewhere in Nassau County, visitors can find Old Westbury Gardens and Hofstra University.

Local school district

Freeport 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.