THE CRUNCH
xAI is using eight converted jet engine turbines to power a Mississippi data centre, in a sign of how far AI companies are going to secure electricity as demand outpaces what utilities can supply. The turbines are repurposed by ProEnergy, a Missouri-based firm that converts unused General Electric engines of the kind typically attached to Boeing aircraft. Each turbine can produce up to 50 megawatts, roughly enough to power around 15,000 homes.
The generators have the required state-level permits, which allow a 25% higher limit for volatile organic compounds, a class of pollutants. Environmentalists warn the combination of those compounds and carbon monoxide emissions makes jet-powered data centres a step in the wrong direction.
There is active opposition. The Southern Environmental Law Center has challenged Mississippi's decision to approve the turbines, arguing that xAI has failed to guarantee the engines meet emissions standards for specific pollutants including formaldehyde, and accusing the company of undercounting projected emissions. The same group previously sued xAI over gas generators used without permits in an area home to more than 100,000 people.
Power scarcity is a broader constraint on the industry. A July 2026 report forecast that data centres would consume 20% of all US power by 2035, an 83% increase on a forecast made just seven months earlier, yet as of April half of data centre buildouts had been cancelled or delayed, partly for lack of power. That pressure is acute for xAI, with Musk saying in August that the company would grow its data centre capacity sevenfold before the end of 2027.