Data Centers Turn to Converted Jet Engines as Grid Connection Waits Stretch to Seven Years

Facing years-long queues for grid connections and new turbines, some AI data centers are generating their own electricity with converted jet engines, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Pulled from retired aircraft and rebuilt to burn natural gas, these engines are nobody's idea of a permanent power plant. But they are the latest signal of how far power supply has fallen behind the AI buildout.

Speed Is the Main Selling Point

For companies stuck in interconnection queues, the chief appeal of converted jet engines is how quickly they can be brought online. "It's all about getting power as fast as possible," Rystad Energy analyst Audun Martinsen told the Times. With jet-powered units, "they can have a data center running in 24 months," he said.

By comparison, connecting 100 megawatts to the grid in Northern Virginia takes roughly seven years, according to the International Energy Agency. Most new power capacity is not expected to come online until 2031, an executive at Mitsubishi Power—one of the world's top manufacturers of power generation equipment—told Bloomberg last week.

Delays Are Already Costing Business

In some cases, these delays are already costing data center operators deals. Last month, Microsoft withdrew as the 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.

xAI, OpenAI, and Crusoe Lead the Way

Elon Musk's xAI is among the companies already using the engines, having installed eight converted jet-engine turbines in Mississippi to help power its Colossus 2 data center in Memphis, the Times reported, citing state permits and satellite imagery. The units come from ProEnergy, which rebuilds a GE engine commonly found on Boeing jets.

In 2025, OpenAI followed Musk's lead with gas turbines at its first Stargate site in Abilene, Texas. Crusoe, a Denver-based startup that builds AI data centers, is constructing that Abilene campus and ordered 13 of ProEnergy's converted units in April.

In September, Crusoe walked away from a $1.25 billion deal to buy 29 natural gas turbines from Boom Supersonic, a startup developing a supersonic passenger jet that has also begun selling a version of that jet's engine as a power plant for data centers. A Crusoe spokesperson told TechCrunch at the time that the company still plans to use turbines.

Policy Pressure Adds Momentum

The Trump administration is adding to the pressure by encouraging data centers to generate their own electricity.

Trade-offs: Efficiency and Emissions

Converted jet engines come with trade-offs. They are less efficient and pollute more than turbines designed for conventional gas plants, and more of them are needed to produce the same amount of power, according to the Times. That may ultimately make converted jet engines a short-term solution, with some experts saying efficiency and environmental concerns could grow in importance within a year or two.

via TechCrunch AI