Osmi vyřazených motorů Boeingu pohání data center Colossus 2 v Mississippi – ekologové protestují

Eight retired jet engines that once flew on Boeing airliners are now generating electricity for one of the world’s largest AI data centers — each turbine producing up to 50 megawatts, enough for roughly 15,000 households, ZIVE reported. The engines, General Electric units converted by Missouri-based ProEnergy, were installed in Mississippi to feed the Colossus 2 facility in nearby Memphis, Tennessee, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. Multiply that out and the scale becomes stark: thousands of retired aircraft are parked in Arizona’s desert boneyards, CzechCrunch reported.

Grid connections can take years, and available capacity in many regions is insufficient, so tech companies are turning to unconventional sources, ZIVE reported.

Why Data Centers Are Buying Used Aircraft Engines

Aircraft boneyards in the Arizona desert, such as Pinal Airpark, have long stripped engines from retired planes because the motors often hold more value than the rest of the airframe. Where those engines once returned to aviation as spare parts, energy companies have increasingly bought them over the past year, CzechCrunch reported. Converting one CFM56 engine — the best-selling civil aviation engine in history, used on Boeing 737s — into a 25-megawatt turbine takes 30 to 45 days, according to FTAI Aviation CEO David Moreno, and the company plans to deliver about 100 units a year, roughly 2.5 gigawatts of capacity.

In July, the FTAI Aviation joint venture with China’s Jereh Group announced a $1.465 billion order — about 32 billion Czech koruna — from an unnamed cloud services provider, CzechCrunch reported. ProEnergy, which modified the engines for xAI, also converts General Electric engines from Boeing 747s; one of its turbines produces 50 megawatts.

Emissions Permits Spark Lawsuits in Mississippi

The Mississippi turbines operate under state permits that allow them to emit twice as much carbon monoxide as other turbines on the site and 25 percent more volatile organic compounds, CzechCrunch and ZIVE reported.

The NAACP filed a lawsuit over gas turbines in Southaven, alleging that xAI’s subsidiary MZX Tech operated at least 27 generators without required permits. Residents have also complained of noise and vibrations from temporary turbines, and a public hearing on an appeal against permits for 41 permanent gas turbines took place on November 9, 2026.

Jet Engines Are One Piece of a Wider Power Scramble

The retrofitted aircraft engines are less efficient than turbines designed for power plants, burning more fuel and emitting more pollutants per unit of electricity, CzechCrunch reported. They are nonetheless part of a broader surge: GE Vernova doubled its gas turbine orders to $16.7 billion in the second quarter and aims to reach 30 gigawatts of annual production by 2030. Nuclear power is reviving too — Microsoft signed a 20-year contract for electricity from the restarted Three Mile Island plant, and Amazon is planning small modular reactors with X-energy, CzechCrunch reported.

The stakes are large. Estimates cited by PCTuning and ZIVE project that data centers could consume up to one-fifth of all U.S. electricity by 2035.

FAQ

How many jet engines is xAI using, and how much power do they make? Eight converted General Electric turbines, each capable of up to 50 megawatts — enough for about 15,000 households under normal conditions, according to ZIVE and PCTuning.

Who converted the engines? ProEnergy, a company based in Missouri that modifies aircraft engines for power generation, per ZIVE and CzechCrunch.

What legal challenges has xAI faced over the turbines? The Southern Environmental Law Center challenged the emissions permit, and the NAACP sued over at least 27 generators in Southaven allegedly operating without permits; a federal judge allowed that case to proceed on October 30, according to ZIVE.

How much electricity could data centers use by 2035? Up to one-fifth of total U.S. electricity, according to estimates cited by PCTuning and ZIVE.

What Comes Next for Jet-Powered AI

For Google, Amazon and Anthropic, speed has been the deciding criterion in securing power, CzechCrunch reported. But within a year or two, fuel cost, efficiency and emissions are expected to weigh more heavily — and the retrofitted jet engines, the least efficient option on the table, are precisely where those pressures will land first. Whether xAI’s turbines remain a stopgap or become a permanent fixture has not been answered.