Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has received a permit to use natural gas-burning turbines to supply its data centre in Tennessee, as residents protest its impact on the area’s air quality.
The Colossus data centre in Memphis supports xAI’s Grok chatbot, available through the social media platform X as well as its own app and website. Colossus previously operated these turbines without state or federal permits.
According to permits issued by Tennessee’s Shelby County, the company can now operate 15 natural gas fired turbine generators for a limited time each year. “The facility owner or operator shall limit the combustion turbines to a maximum of 22 startup events and 22 shutdown events per year, with a total combined duration of 110 hours annually.”
These permits also add limits on Colossus’ emissions, with visible emissions capped at 20% opacity and nitrogen oxide emissions at 25 parts per million.
The facility currently uses at least 24 portable methane gas turbines, per satellite images, and emits nitrogen oxides and formaldehyde. It is located near Boxtown, a historically Black neighbourhood that had already reported higher rates of cancer linked to industrial pollution before the Colossus facility arrived.
Residents and officials have repeatedly criticised the Colossus facility for damaging air quality in the community since its opening in June 2024, with a series of public hearings held by the county’s health department into the issue. The Southern Environmental Law Centre (SELC) issued a notice of intent to sue xAI last month, representing the NAACP civil rights organisation.
“xAI’s decision to install and operate dozens of polluting gas turbines without any permits or public oversight is a clear violation of the Clean Air Act,” said SELC senior attorney Patrick Anderson. “Over the last year, these turbines have pumped out pollution that threatens the health of Memphis families.”
xAI said in May that 200,000 graphics processing units had already been installed at the Colossus centre, and the company also bought another 93,000 square metre property in Memphis in March. It raised US$10 billion in debt and equity this week to support these expansion efforts.
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