Elon Musk’s xAI is turning retired aviation hardware into a power plant for artificial intelligence. The company has installed eight converted jet-engine turbines at a Mississippi data center, adding a striking new wrinkle to the race to build ever-larger AI facilities before utility grids can catch up.
The turbines come from Missouri-based ProEnergy, which retrofits General Electric CF6-80C2 jet-engine cores originally designed for aircraft such as Boeing’s 747. The modified machines no longer create thrust to move an airplane; instead, they drive generators and can deliver roughly 48 to 50 megawatts apiece. ProEnergy says its aeroderivative systems are intended to provide fast-start power for data centers, including during the years facilities are waiting for permanent grid connections. The company has sold 21 such turbines for two data-center projects totaling more than one gigawatt.
That speed comes with an environmental trade-off. Mississippi permits reportedly allow the xAI installation to emit carbon monoxide at a higher rate than other turbines at the site, while also permitting a 25 percent increase in volatile organic compound limits. Environmental advocates argue that the approval does not adequately establish compliance for pollutants including formaldehyde, and they allege that projected emissions from the facility’s different power sources were undercounted.
The dispute lands amid a broader legal fight over xAI’s regional power strategy. The Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice are representing the NAACP in a Clean Air Act case involving a separate Southaven, Mississippi, installation of at least 27 unpermitted methane gas turbines used to support xAI’s Colossus 2 data center near Memphis. On October 31, a federal judge rejected xAI’s effort to dismiss that lawsuit, ruling that the turbines were not exempt “mobile sources” and that the claims could proceed.
xAI’s reliance on combustion equipment reflects the extraordinary electricity demands behind Grok and other AI services. BloombergNEF projects that U.S. data centers could consume about 20 percent of the nation’s electricity by 2035, up from 5.9 percent today, with national data-center demand reaching 194 gigawatts. ProEnergy describes its turbines as bridge power that can operate for five to seven years while a facility awaits grid interconnection, after which the equipment could be shifted into backup service or sold to a utility.
For xAI, the approach offers a way to keep construction and computing moving when conventional power connections are slow. For nearby residents, however, it raises a harder question: whether temporary or supplementary generation should receive approval when its pollution profile resembles that of a small power plant. The Mississippi permits and the pending Clean Air Act litigation will help determine whether repurposed jet engines become a practical stopgap for the AI boom—or another flashpoint in the growing backlash against data-center expansion.
