Groups appeal Shelby County Health Department's approval of xAI turbine use in Memphis In February, CTC Property, an affiliate of xAI, purchased 186.13 acres along Tulane Road for $79.9 million, according to the Shelby County Register of Deeds. The three parcels listed in the transaction are 5408, 5414 and 5420 Tulane Road. Since xAI announced plans for a goal of 1 million GPUs with its Colossus supercomputer, concerns over how the company will manage to power its artificial intelligence data center have continued to grow. In May, Musk said Colossus 2 would be the "first gigawatt AI training cluster." However, how the Tulane Road facility will generate that much power is still undetermined, with only limited insight into some of the potential power sources, including Tesla Megapacks. On July 15, xAI senior manager for infrastructure Brent Mayo did not go into details surrounding the Tulane Road campus but did confirm xAI is working with Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on best ways to power the facility. MLGW confirmed that the company has a service agreement with xAI for its 5420 Tulane Road location. Under that agreement MLGW supplies 0.5 megawatts to the site; however, MLGW is not supplying any electricity to power the Colossus 2 supercomputer, MLGW spokesperson Markia Hilliard said via email. On July 16, MXZ Tech LLC, an affiliate of xAI, purchased 114.49 acres in Southaven at the former Duke Energy site. The former power plant, located at 2875 Stanton Road, is located just about 1.5 miles away from the Colossus 2 campus on Tulane Road. In part of the MXZ Tech land acquisition, is a transmission line easement agreements, including a 200-megawatt electrical transmission line that runs from the Stanton Road site to nearby Stateline Road. The easement agreements outline a 1.33-acre site near Stateline Road where those lines could connect to the 5420 Tulane Road campus. MLGW declined to comment regarding power connections from the Stanton Road power plant. TVA communications specialist Julia Wise said the TVA board does not need to approve interstate connections; however, any such connection into TVA territory would require a utility agreement. On July 22, xAI posted via its X account that the first phase of installation at Colossus 2 is underway and includes 110,000 Nvidia GB2000 GPUs. In the post, xAI mentions the use of Tesla Megapacks during peak demand periods to offset power supply and safeguard Shelby County residents. In May, 168 Tesla Megapacks were delivered to the Tulane Road campus. The company has used the megapacks as battery storage to help offset power demands at the Paul R. Lowry Road site. "We are building similar redundancies for Colossus 2 that mimic the success we've seen at Colossus," the post read. "This includes Tesla Megapacks to provide critical support during peak demand periods, ensuring a stable power supply while safeguarding Shelby County residents from potential blackouts. We expect to power on this facility within the next few weeks." xAI partnered with MLGW for powering its Paul R. Lowry Road site, including the construction of two 150-megawatt substations. (The TVA board needs to approve any connection over 100 megawatts. The board approved a power agreement in November 2024 for the first 150-megawatt substation.) The continued use of gas turbines at the Paul R. Lowry Road site has gathered national headlines and the ire of environmental advocacy groups. In June, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the NAACP, filed a 60-day intent to sue xAI and its affiliates over alleged Clean Air Act violations at the Paul R. Lowry Road site. Neil Strebig is a journalist with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at neil.strebig@commercialappeal.com, 901-426-0679 or via X/Twitter:@neilStrebig