Struggling with years-long waits for grid connections and new turbines, some AI data centers are generating their own electricity using converted jet engines, according to a Tuesday report by The New York Times.
Although these engines, sourced from retired aircraft and rebuilt to burn natural gas, are not considered a permanent power solution, they illustrate the widening gap between power availability and the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure.
The primary benefit for companies waiting in line is the speed of deployment. “It’s all about getting power as fast as possible,” commented Audun Martinsen, an analyst at Rystad Energy. He noted that with jet-powered units, “they can have a data center running in 24 months.”
In contrast, connecting 100 megawatts to the grid in Northern Virginia takes approximately seven years, according to the International Energy Agency. Furthermore, most new power capacity is expected to be available only by 2031, as revealed by an executive at Mitsubishi Power speaking to Bloomberg last week.
These delays are already affecting business operations; for example, Microsoft withdrew as the anchor customer for Nscale's data center in Loughton, England, after the local utility stated it could not deliver enough power until the early-to-mid 2030s.
Elon Musk’s xAI is already using this method, having installed eight converted jet-engine turbines in Mississippi to support its Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, utilizing units rebuilt by ProEnergy from General Electric engines.
OpenAI followed this initiative in 2025 by utilizing gas turbines at its first Stargate site in Abilene, Texas. Crusoe Energy, the Denver-based startup managing the Abilene campus, ordered 13 of ProEnergy's converted units in April.
Crusoe later walked away from a $1.25 billion deal to buy 29 natural gas turbines from Boom Supersonic, a company developing supersonic aircraft that also sells its engine design for power generation. However, a Crusoe spokesperson assured TechCrunch that the company still intends to use turbines.
Currently, the Trump administration is increasing pressure by encouraging data centers to generate their own electricity. Nevertheless, these retrofitted engines come with trade-offs, including lower efficiency and higher pollution levels compared to conventional turbines, suggesting they may serve only as a short-term measure as environmental concerns become more critical over the next year or two.
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