As xAI inches toward completing Colossus 2, the company’s second Memphis data center, its plans for powering the site are coming into focus, as The Daily Memphian reports:
Last week, the company received approval from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to operate natural gas turbines without an air emissions permit for up to 12 months while the company works on its plans to build permanent natural gas generation at 2875 Stanton Road in Southaven.
The xAI subsidiary, MZX Tech LLC, has also submitted air pollutant modeling to MDEQ for 2875 Stanton Road, according to documents obtained via the Mississippi Public Records Act.
That modeling sheds some light on the company’s long-term plans for the former Duke Energy Plant it bought last month and reveals that the company could be adding a major source of air emissions to the Memphis metropolitan area.
“MZX Tech LLC (MZX) is proposing to construct and operate a new greenfield major source consisting of simple cycle combustion turbines and pressure reduction systems (the ‘Facility’) that will provide electricity to its data center located in Shelby County, Tennessee,” according to documents obtained by The Daily Memphian.
The news isn’t good, as Hardiman continues in his report:
According to the air modeling submitted by xAI’s consultants, the long-term natural gas buildout at 2875 Stanton Road could add a significant amount of new air pollution.
The document identifies the buildout as a potential major source of air pollution under the federal Clean Air Act. The modeling shows that the site could emit about 423.4 tons of nitrogen oxides, or NOx.
That figure would make xAI the second-worst polluter in DeSoto County, which borders Memphis directly to the south.
Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite doesn’t seem to take this concern seriously. In a recent blog post on the city’s website, he wrote:
It’s certainly no secret by now that concerns have been raised in Memphis regarding potential air pollution, power capacity impacts and water capacity impacts from artificial intelligence operations. Cultivating quality economic development should always go hand-in-hand with keeping clear view of the ultimate goal of public benefit. Never would I advocate for any development that didn’t share these goals in Southaven. xAI has proven their commitment to being an outstanding corporate citizen in this regard in every possible way. Environmental sensitivity is at the forefront of this commitment as they go above and beyond required emission control requirements. The Solar SMT-130 natural gas turbines they use which are necessary to generate electricity for backup purposes are equipped with SoLoNOx dry low emissions (DLE) technology and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems that lower nitrogen oxide emissions to 2 ppm, which is the Lowest Achievable Emission Rate, making xAI’s facilities the lowest emitting facilities in the United States. They further display conscientious efforts in protecting the electricity grid as they take no power from the grid during emergency or strained situations and have invested tens of millions of dollars to protect the public with an MLGW substation with further commitments such as this for MLGW and Mississippi providers. xAI has made the largest investments in the world for sustainable energy storage systems with hundreds of millions of dollars for battery megapack installations. Their commitment to grid stability and sustainability goes beyond their own power needs into the realm of helping power providers provide additional power sources for the communities where they operate. In addition, xAI has committed to funding a state-of-the-art water recycling plant in Memphis and more funding for future needs in Mississippi to prevent the need to draw any water from natural aquifers for industrial purposes. xAI has followed all of the regulatory processes to obtain a permit to operate here, but they have also proven that they will go above and beyond in bringing public benefit to the communities where they operate. This is further evidenced by their community investment efforts into transportation infrastructure and the support and education of our youth in preparing them for even better educational and unprecedented occupational opportunities.
As recently as July 22, Memphis Light, Gas & Water has stated that it is not providing power for Colossus 2:
MLGW currently has a general services agreement with xAI’s location at 5420 Tulane Road.
MLGW has no new contracts with xAI at their site located at 5420 Tulane Road.
The general services agreement with this location is supplying around .5 MW of power. The site located at 5420 Tulane was formerly set up to receive utility services and no other infrastructure changes have occurred at this time.
MLGW is not supplying power to their supercomputer, Colossus 2.
If and until a substation is built to power Colossus 2, Southaven will be home to spinning gas turbines. While its Mayor seems optimistic about the number of jobs and the amount of pollution this will bring to the area, xAI has shown with Colossus 1 that very often those promises are left unfulfilled.
I wonder how the Mayor feels about Grok’s newest features,1 as reported by Jess Weatherbed for The Verge:
xAI’s new Grok Imagine tool is an AI image and video generator that encourages users to make NSFW content. In contrast to rival generative AI video tools like Google’s Veo and OpenAI’s Sora, which try to block users from generating anything seedy, the Grok chatbot’s Imagine feature provides a “Spicy” generation mode that actively directs it to spit out nudity and sexualized content.
Quality economic development, indeed.
- I’ve asked the Mayor’s office for comment. ↩