Musk’s xAI to build small solar farm adjacent to Colossus data center

Artificial intelligence startup xAI, founded by Elon Musk, told city and county planners in Memphis last week that it plans to build a solar farm next to its Colossus data center — one of the world’s largest facilities for training AI models.

The project would cover 88 hectares west and south of the data center. A vacant lot of 136 hectares is owned by the developer who also owns the Colossus site and is currently adjacent to the site. Given the proposed size, the solar farm would likely produce about 30 megawatts of electricity, only about 10% of the data center’s capacity. estimated power consumption.

Musk’s company has come under fire for operating more than 400 megawatts of natural gas turbines without a permit, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). The legal organization, which works with the NAACP, says xAI has operated at least 35 turbines capable of emitting more than 2,000 tons of NOx._X pollution – the nitrogen oxide emissions that contribute to smog and respiratory problems – annually.

The turbines have sparked fierce opposition from residents in nearby Boxtown, a predominantly black community where researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, found that peak concentrations of nitrogen dioxide increased by 79% in areas immediately surrounding the data center after xAI began operations. Community activists have reported an increase in asthma attacks and breathing problems since the facility opened.

The AI ​​company has said it plans to use the turbines until it can secure additional power, but local officials gave xAI a permit to operate 15 turbines until January 2027.

In September, xAI said it was a Solar park of 100 megawatts nearby, which will be combined with 100 megawatts of grid-scale batteries to provide a 24/7 source of electricity.

The company did not disclose the total cost of that project, but the solar farm’s developer, Seven States Power Corporation, has received $439 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of that, $414 million is an interest-free loan.

The federal award is notable considering that many clean energy grants and loans have been canceled by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy under the Trump administration.

Meanwhile, xAI has added gas turbines in Mississippi to power its Colossus 2 data center. So far, 59 of them are on siteand the company considers 18 of them temporary, meaning regulators aren’t tracking their contamination.