In May, it was reported that xAI was looking to use gas turbines to power its second Memphis location, in part through a partnership named Stateline Power Solutions. Part of the deal was some property just south of the Tennessee/Mississippi state line, which was being used to store the gas turbines that xAI will rely on to help power the new data center. According to Samuel Hardiman, the rate at which equipment is being delivered to the site has picked up steam:
On Wednesday, June 18, a Daily Memphian reporter observed dozens of natural gas turbines and energy equipment stockpiled in a field at 2979 Stateline Road West in Southaven [Mississippi]. None of the equipment appeared to be running, but it does seem to be multiplying. Two weeks ago, the reporter saw only six or seven turbines on the same lot.
According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the equipment in the field was delivered as part of a joint venture between Elon Musk’s xAI and Solaris Energy Infrastructure LLC, in line with the venture’s plans to build up to 900 megawatts of off-site capacity for xAI’s second Memphis data center.
The company is building that data center about a mile to the north at 5420 Tulane Road in Memphis.
Hardiman continues:
About a half-mile south of the field where the equipment is stationed is a 100-plus-acre Southaven site that was once a Duke Energy natural gas plant. For more than two months, The Daily Memphian has observed workers move between xAI’s 5420 Tulane Road property and the former plant at 2875 Stanton Road, raising the question of whether that site is where xAI will generate the power needed for its second Memphis data center.
Both of those Mississippi addresses are linked to Solaris Energy Infrastructure, Inc., the company who sourced the turbines in use at xAI’s first Memphis site.
This map shows how close these locations are to the new data center:
This reporting comes the same week where the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center announced their intent to sue xAI over their use of gas turbines at the company’s first Memphis site. In my article covering that development, I quoted from a recent editorial written by Memphis Mayor Paul Young. I’m going to quote the exact same section of that article today:
Claim #1: xAI plans to install 45 to 90 turbines in Memphis
False. Their permit outlines 15 temporary-use turbines for their first facility. That’s it. There’s no plan, permit or proposal for anything more. The power solution for their second site hasn’t been determined.
Young would be proven right if the turbines that are being delivered are technically run in Southaven and not Memphis, but air pollution doesn’t care about state lines.