Tech giants such as Google, Meta and Apple are turning to American aircraft boneyards to resolve a critical energy crisis. As demand for artificial intelligence surges, the vast data centres needed to support these technologies are consuming electricity at an unsustainable rate.
With the US government having urged data centre developers to generate their own power to avoid overloading the public electricity grid and driving up costs for consumers, companies are now repurposing ageing jet engines as industrial turbines, according to a report in the New York Times.
The Sonoran Desert in Arizona has become a major source of this equipment. At sites such as Pinal Airpark and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, thousands of retired military and commercial aircraft are stored in the dry climate to prevent corrosion.
Although these aircraft were originally kept for spare parts or a possible return to service, their engines are now being removed for conversion into electricity generators. The scale of this potential is enormous. For example, the 4,000 retired jets at a single base in Tucson could theoretically produce 40,000 megawatts of power. That capacity exceeds that of the entire state of Arizona.
The conversion process involves removing the engine’s outer casing and large front fan. The internal combustion chamber is then adapted to run on diesel or natural gas instead of expensive aviation fuel. Rather than generating thrust to propel an aircraft, the high-speed airflow is harnessed through a gearbox and an electrical generator to produce power.
Industry analysts note that the main driver of this trend is ‘speed to power’. While traditional grid connections or bespoke turbine installations can take years, these repurposed units can get a data centre up and running in as little as two years.
However, this rapid deployment comes with significant environmental and health costs. Repurposed jet engines are generally less efficient and far more polluting than modern turbines in power stations.
In Mississippi, Elon Musk’s xAI has used several of these converted turbines and obtained permits allowing emissions of carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds well above standard limits. Environmental campaigners and groups such as the NAACP have raised the alarm, arguing that the pursuit of AI dominance must not come at the expense of air quality or the health of local communities, many of which are predominantly black.
Despite these concerns, the political climate favours rapid installation. The current administration regards the race for AI supremacy as a matter of national security and is even intervening in court to protect companies such as xAI from environmental lawsuits.
Although some experts question the long-term viability of these engines – citing high maintenance costs and extreme heat generation – the urgent need for energy has made these ‘retired’ engines an attractive, albeit polluting, shortcut for the tech industry.
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