AI Data Centres Are Burning Jet Fuel in Rebuilt Aircraft Engines
等不及电网，AI 数据中心开始用退役飞机发动机发电
电网接入在美国部分地区要等约 7 年，而改装退役飞机发动机的燃气轮机可在 24 个月内让数据中心通电。xAI、OpenAI、Crusoe 已陆续采用，但这类机组效率更低、污染更重，多被视为过渡方案。
Grid connections take up to seven years. Converted jet turbines can have a campus running in 24 months, so operators are buying them — efficiency and emissions aside.
Some AI data centres have started generating their own electricity with converted jet engines, because waiting for a grid connection now takes years. The engines are retired aircraft turbines, rebuilt to burn natural gas — not permanent power plants, but a measure of how far demand has outrun supply.
The attraction is speed. “It is all about getting power as fast as possible,” Audun Martinsen, an analyst at the energy research firm Rystad Energy, told the New York Times. With converted jet engines, he said, an operator can have a data centre running within 24 months.
The comparison is stark. Bringing 100 megawatts onto the grid in northern Virginia takes about seven years, according to the International Energy Agency, and an executive at Mitsubishi Power told Bloomberg last week that most new generating capacity will not come online until 2031.
The delays are already changing plans. Microsoft pulled out of a data centre project in Loughton, England, last month after the local utility said it could not supply enough power until the early-to-mid 2030s.
Others have gone ahead with their own turbines. xAI has installed eight converted jet turbines in Mississippi to power its Colossus 2 facility in Memphis, according to state permits and satellite imagery cited by the Times; the units come from ProEnergy, which rebuilds a General Electric engine common on Boeing aircraft. OpenAI used gas turbines at its first Stargate site in Abilene, Texas, in 2025, and Crusoe, which is building that campus, ordered 13 more converted units in April.
The engineering logic has limits, though. Converted aircraft engines are less efficient and dirtier than turbines designed to sit still, and more of them are needed for the same output. That is why several analysts expect them to be a stopgap: useful for winning two years, awkward to defend once efficiency and emissions start to matter.
Policy is pushing the same way. The current US administration has encouraged data centres to generate their own power, which makes the jet-engine shortcut easier to take — and harder to retire.
中文翻译（全文）
一些 AI 数据中心已开始用改装过的飞机发动机自行发电，因为如今等待电网接入要花上好几年。这些发动机是退役的航空涡轮，被重新制造成燃烧天然气的机组——它们不是永久性电厂，而是「需求已经跑得比供给远多少」的一个度量。
吸引力在于速度。能源研究机构 Rystad Energy 的分析师 Audun Martinsen 对《纽约时报》表示：「一切都是为了尽可能快地拿到电。」他说，用改装飞机发动机，运营商可以在 24 个月内让数据中心运转起来。
对比很刺眼。按国际能源署的数据，在美国弗吉尼亚州北部把 100 兆瓦接入电网大约需要七年；三菱重工电力的一名高管上周对彭博社表示，大部分新增装机容量要到 2031 年才能投运。
延误已经在改变计划。上个月，在當地公用事业公司表示要到 2030 年代初中期才能提供足够电力之后，微软退出了英国劳顿的一个数据中心项目。
另一些公司则自己上了涡轮机。据《纽约时报》援引州政府许可文件和卫星图像，xAI 已在密西西比州安装八台改装飞机发动机涡轮机，为其位于孟菲斯的 Colossus 2 设施供电；这些机组来自 ProEnergy，该公司改装的是波音飞机上常见的通用电气发动机。OpenAI 在 2025 年为其位于得克萨斯州阿比林的第一个 Stargate 站点使用了燃气轮机；负责建设该园区的 Crusoe 则在今年 4 月又订购了 13 台改装机组。
不过工程逻辑有其限度。改装的航空发动机比专门为固定场所设计的涡轮机效率更低、排放更脏，而且要发出同样的电量需要更多台。这也是为什么多位分析师认为它们只是过渡方案：用来抢两年时间很好用，但一旦效率和排放成为问题，就很难为它辩护。
政策也在往同一方向推。现任美国政府鼓励数据中心自行发电，这让「飞机发动机」这条捷径更容易走——也更难退出。
重点词汇
- turbine /ˈtɜːbaɪn/ n. — a machine that spins when gas or steam flows through it, producing power 涡轮机；燃气轮机 Converted turbines burn natural gas.
- grid connection /ɡrɪd kəˈnekʃn/ n. — a link allowing a site to draw power from the public network 电网接入 A grid connection takes about seven years.
- megawatt /ˈmeɡəwɒt/ n. — a unit of power equal to one million watts 兆瓦 100 megawatts takes seven years to connect.
- stopgap /ˈstɒpɡæp/ n. — something used temporarily until a proper solution arrives 权宜之计；过渡方案 Analysts see them as a stopgap.
- trade-off /ˈtreɪd ɒf/ n. — a balance in which gaining one thing costs another 取舍 The trade-offs are real.
- stark /stɑːk/ adj. — very clear and plain, often unpleasantly so 鲜明的；刺眼的 The comparison is stark.
- capacity /kəˈpæsəti/ n. — the maximum power a system can produce 装机容量 New capacity will not arrive until 2031.
- pull out of /pʊl ˈaʊt əv/ phrasal v. — to withdraw from an agreement or project 退出 Microsoft pulled out of the project.
- efficiency /ɪˈfɪʃnsi/ n. — how much useful output you get from a given input 效率 Converted engines are less efficient.
- retire /rɪˈtaɪə/ v. — to stop using a piece of equipment permanently 退役；停用 The engines were retired from aircraft.
阅读测验
共 5 道题目
Why are data centre operators buying converted jet engines?
How long does a 100 MW grid connection take in northern Virginia?
Microsoft withdrew from a UK data centre project after the utility said power would not arrive until the 2030s.
What are the drawbacks of converted aircraft engines? (Select all that apply)
xAI installed eight converted turbines in Mississippi to power its _____ 2 facility.
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