Mississippi sets retirement schedule for xAI turbines, allows some to run past deadline

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality announced a schedule Thursday to retire 69 temporary gas generators in Southaven that xAI is using to power data centers, but the agency said it will allow some units to run past the original 12-month deadline.

The July 30 order says xAI agreed to begin retiring the units on Aug. 18. The agency said 13 of the generators may keep operating beyond the 12-month period and that three of those could run up to five months longer.

According to the order, xAI — through a subsidiary, MZX Tech — has run trailer-mounted natural gas turbines since August 2025 to power centers across the state line in Memphis. The order says xAI does not have an air permit for any of the 69 temporary turbines.

Southaven residents have complained about emissions and a constant humming noise, Mississippi Today reported. Civil rights groups and environmental attorneys have challenged MDEQ’s interpretation that the units qualify as portable, nonroad engines exempt from permitting. The NAACP filed a federal complaint in April, and local residents filed suit in June, lawyers with the Southern Environmental Law Center told Mississippi Today.

MDEQ said in the order that xAI requested the extension because of supply chain delays affecting 41 permanent turbines that will have air permits. The order sets a retirement date of July 14, 2027, for the most recently added temporary turbines and requires a majority of the units to be retired by next April, the agency said. MDEQ declined to provide additional comment beyond the order when asked by Mississippi Today.

In a statement on its website, xAI said it is removing the mobile turbines as permanent power from a 1.2 gigawatt plant comes online under a Clean Air Act permit. The company said it is investing in emission controls, sound walls and silencers and is working to reduce noise and community impacts.

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