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Press Mention Public News Service January 13, 2025

SACE Quoted Web article

Memphis may not have enough power to accommodate enormous AI facility

In this mention

Stephen A. Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, warns that Elon Musk's xAI Colossus facility in Memphis poses significant challenges to the city's power grid and environment. The facility's energy demand has grown from an initial 150 megawatts to 1,000 megawatts (one gigawatt), requiring portable fossil gas generators that operate without air-pollution permits and pollute South Memphis neighborhoods.

Memphis could handle the 150 megawatts. It's a fundamentally different request when you're going to require your own power plant to power one facility that really doesn't employ a lot of people.

Stephen A. Smith
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