xAI installs converted Boeing 747 engines to power data center

Elon Musk’s xAI has installed eight gas turbines, repurposed from General Electric CF6-80C2 aircraft engines used in Boeing 747s, at a facility in Southaven, Mississippi. These units are intended to provide power to the Colossus 2 AI data center complex located near Memphis, Tennessee, as the company awaits connection to the main electrical grid.

The turbines, rebuilt by ProEnergy to run on natural gas, have a combined rated capacity of approximately 400 megawatts. According to Mississippi state permits, these converted engines are allowed higher emission limits than other turbines at the site, including double the permitted carbon monoxide and 25% more volatile organic compounds.

Environmental groups, including the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center, are challenging the state’s permit decisions, arguing that the impact of pollution on surrounding areas was not sufficiently considered. This follows a separate legal dispute regarding the use of temporary mobile turbines at the site, a Clean Air Act lawsuit that a federal judge recently allowed to proceed.