SpaceX said Thursday that it will remove the unpermitted turbines powering its xAI data centers near Memphis as it transitions to a permanent 1.2 gigawatt natural gas power plant, but the turbines will not be completely removed until July 2027. The disclosure extends the timeline for a dispute that has pitted the company against civil rights and environmental groups.
SpaceX said it is currently operating 69 gas turbines to power the Colossus data centers, many of which have been running for months. The NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center have sued xAI over the use of the unpermitted turbines, arguing they operate without required environmental permits in an already heavily polluted region. SpaceX acquired xAI in February.
In its IPO filing, SpaceX said it plans to buy $2.8 billion worth of gas turbines for its data centers over the next three years. The company claims it is allowed to operate the existing turbines without permits because they remain on the trailers they were shipped on, a position federal regulators dispute.
Federal regulations say the turbines xAI has been using, regardless of what they sit on, require permits because of their size and how they are being used. The turbines are located south of Memphis in Mississippi, just over the border from Tennessee, in a region among the most polluted in the United States. According to the lawsuit, the turbines have the potential to emit more than 2,000 tons of smog-forming NOx per year.
Last month, the Department of Justice sided with SpaceX in the NAACP’s lawsuit, arguing that the unpermitted turbines were a matter of “national, economic, and energy security.” The filing marked a significant intervention by the federal government in the dispute.
The new power plant that SpaceX is building will consist of 41 gas turbines ranging in size from 16.48 megawatts to 50 megawatts, according to permit documents issued by the state of Mississippi. TechCrunch reported it could not verify the specific models of the 69 existing turbines, which appear to differ from those planned for the permanent facility.
Earlier this year, Elon Musk bought APR Energy, a company that specializes in temporary natural gas power. Based on an archive of the company’s website before it was taken down, the turbines in APR Energy’s fleet also appear to differ from those cited in the permits for the new plant, leading TechCrunch to suggest the new turbine fleet is likely intended for another, unannounced project.
The extended timeline means emissions from the unpermitted fleet will continue for roughly another year while the legal fight proceeds. The case highlights the growing tension between the explosive energy demands of AI data centers and environmental regulation, as companies race to build computing infrastructure faster than permitting systems can process it.
Sources: TechCrunch, Southern Environmental Law Center, NAACP.