An industrial giant has unveiled its next level of gas-fired electricity generators – and they are really big.

General Electric says its 9HA is the most advanced and efficient gas turbine it has ever produced, with enough output to easily power a mid-size metropolis.

Dubbed “Harriet” by its designers, the colossus of fossil-fuel burning fury has is the result of more than a billion dollars of GE development.

Designed to work in groups of four, when hooked up in a power plant with steam turbines and generators, a set of 9HA turbines will generate 2,000 megawatts - enough for about 2 million homes.

Each unit contains a treasure trove of cutting-edge technology such as single-crystal fan blades, ceramic matrix composites and a vast array of sensors and controls.

The new unit can run under much higher temperatures, producing more energy per unit of time without breaking down. GE says this allows it to hit an incredible 61 per cent energy production efficiency.

“Fifteen years ago you would need twice as many units to deliver the same amount of power. But they would have been less efficient, burning more fuel and therefore generating more emissions,” Mike Gradoia, product marketing manager for Harriet, told GE Reports.

Each turbine has around 3000 mechanical, temperature and exhaust sensors to keep tabs on every aspect of the running turbine.

A constant stream of data feeds an attached monitoring centre, but GE says it is now working to be a system that can see and interpret the data flow remotely, via the internet.

Harriet only requires about 10 minutes to spool up from a dead stop to full power, so its designers say it would be a jn excellent accompaniment to fill demand in peak timesn for hybrid energy production scheme.

In this case, it would be paired with a solar or wind array to only come online when production rate of the renewable source drops.

This following video from GE further describes the unit: