The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency just released a ruling that removes any permitting exemptions for all types of gas turbine generators. According to The Guardian, this move comes as some Memphis residents have been fighting a legal battle against Elon Musk and his xAI startup for its allegedly illegal use of generators to deliver power to his multiple AI data centers.
While any deployment of a gas turbine generator generally requires a permit from the authorities, the county where Musk’s first AI supercluster is located has a loophole that allows their operation without a permit, provided they are moved within 364 days. xAI took advantage of this technicality, allowing it to set up and run an AI data center with 100,000 Nvidia H200 GPUs in just 19 days — something that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says usually takes four years. It achieved this by using multiple portable power generators to power the site while waiting for the 150MW substation to finish construction.
