Elon Musk’s xAI data centers need a lot of electricity. Without it, Grok can’t sling edgy memes and make videos of Trump dressed like Rambo, flying a bald eagle into battle. However, his latest data center in Southaven, Mississippi needs more juice than the grid can provide. So, at the expense of the surround ears and lungs, he built his own power station on sight and shipped in a bunch of methane gas turbines to compensate (something Elon is overly familiar with).
The turbine generator count is up to 27; there were 18 installed last summer, with an additional nine added last December. A surprise to no one, having more than two dozen gas-powered turbine makes a lot of noise, and Southaven residents are mad.
AI data centers are often built in rural areas because the land is cheap. But the people who live in those rural areas typically do so because they enjoy the quiet, peaceful nature. Now, many of those same people are having that tranquility disrupted by a constant high-pitched noise. And while the noise can range from 40-60dB in most surrounding areas (about the sound of a normal conversation) the sound these turbines make is much higher pitched than that — think of the sound from a commercial jet engine. It’s even louder for some residents who live on the same roads. And it never stops. The turbines run day and night.
Residents are speaking out but it isn’t getting them very far
Eddie Gossett lives on the same road as the xAI facility and, despite wanting to live out the rest of his days there, he wants to get away from the noise. If he even can. “I intended to die right here,” the 76-year-old Gossett told NBC News. ”Hell, I couldn’t give my house away with all this noise.”…