AI Tech / news
AI Data Centers Turn to Retired Jet Engines as Grid Delays Persist
Some AI data center developers are converting retired jet engines to burn natural gas and generate their own electricity while grid connections and new turbines remain years away.
The engines are pulled from retired aircraft and rebuilt to run on natural gas. They are not considered permanent power plants, but they offer a faster route to electricity for data center projects stuck in long interconnection and equipment queues.
Rystad Energy analyst Audun Martinsen said the priority is securing power as quickly as possible. With jet-powered units, he said, a data center can be running in 24 months.
In Northern Virginia, connecting 100 megawatts to the grid takes about seven years, according to the International Energy Agency. Most power capacity is expected to come on by 2031, an executive at Mitsubishi Power said last week.
The delays are already affecting projects. Last month, Microsoft withdrew as anchor customer for Nscale's data center in Loughton, England, after the local utility said it could not deliver enough power until the early-to-mid 2030s.
The use of converted jet engines is a sign of how far power supply has fallen behind the AI buildout. The units are less efficient and less environmentally friendly than standard generation, but they can be deployed while longer-term power projects remain stuck in development.