Musk's xAI accused of worsening Memphis smog with unauthorized gas turbines

cnbc.com

9 pointsfoobarqux3 comments

I don't know if this is a hill worth dying on.

The gas turbines are clearly intended for transition from prime to standby generation once the local utility approves additional capacity to the site.

NOx emissions from modern gas turbines are not that significant. Utility scale turbines can achieve single-digit ppm. If we were talking about a fleet of diesel generators running 24/7, I would understand the concern.

This is about the cleanest and most reliable way you could power a datacenter (of this scale) off-grid for an interim period of time. In fact, if you look at the generation mix of the TVA, you may find that these gas turbines are potentially a cleaner way to power the site than the grid itself is. TVA has 25 active units burning things like coal.

In most places you would be arrested for installing 18 gas turbines without permission. This is the type of behavior you would see in a third world country with no laws.

Yeah, I'm kind of baffled by this. Does Memphis not have planning permission as a concept? Do they just not enforce it? Like, even beyond the permitting issue for the turbines, how did they get there in the first place?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com