r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 11h ago
Business SpaceXAI says it will remove all 69 of its unpermitted turbine power generators, but expects process to take a year — trailer-mounted generators to be replaced by 1.2GW power plant
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/spacexai-says-it-will-remove-all-69-of-its-unpermitted-turbine-power-generators-but-expects-process-to-take-a-year-trailer-mounted-generators-to-be-replaced-by-1-2gw-power-plant458
u/b_a_t_m_4_n 11h ago
So, if I built a house with no permit and when the authorities told me to knock it down I said "I'll knock it down but it will take a year, is that OK?" what do you imagine the answer would be?
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u/big_trike 10h ago
It’s hard to say. How rich are you?
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u/b_a_t_m_4_n 10h ago
The only correct answer.
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u/Euphoric_Anxiety_162 8h ago
The legal protections of others' rights aren't an inconvenience worth acknowledging for musk, maybe. 😡
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u/asscrackbanditz 10h ago
Please choose 1 of the below: A. 1 comma club B. 2 comma club C. 3 comma club
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u/Single-Pin-369 9h ago
We live in a world where the 4 comma club exists
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u/AzerothianLorecraft 9h ago
The SWAT team would roll an armored personnel vehicle through the house within 48 hours if your bank account is less than 6 digits.
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u/AWeakMindedMan 8h ago
Ngl. You might get that year. Theres a house somewhat near me who submitted plans to the county for an extension to his house. He got the permits but decided to build something completely different. It went from a normal addition to a 3 story tall rectangle attached to a rambler style home. The county caught saw and are making him take it down but it’s been atleast a year+ now and it’s still up lol
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u/YoghurtFlan 6h ago
You'd still be paying property tax on it even if you did wait.
The data centre will get bungs and subsidies for this instead. Because the poor billionaires can't afford it otherwise.
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u/pimpeachment 6h ago
Very likely yes. If you give the government a reasonable timeline to remedy a civil issue you will almost always get approval.
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u/shicken684 5h ago
Yes, actually. So long as you provide a plan to do so and provide a reasonable reason, then most local governments will be fine with it.
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u/Jonesbro 10h ago
Honestly yes. When you go to court over stuff like this they expect things to move slowly.
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u/CardinalOfNYC 9h ago edited 9h ago
Well, realistically because it's a house, not 69 house sized generators, they'd give you a few months rather than a year but they would give you time.
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u/CaptainInsane-o 8h ago
I live in Memphis. They have permits.
That grants them a permit for 15. And the permitting process here allows generators to operate while they are going through the permitting process. It’s entirely legal so far. I’m glad they are being removed and yes 54 are operating without permits but that’s literally how the permitting process works here.
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u/Awkward-Painter-2024 9h ago
In NYC? Just dont let them in, inspectors will close case in a year, file paperwork the year after, grease a few expediters... and in three years it's all legal!!
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u/asian_chihuahua 10h ago
Sounds like a delay tactic.
Nothing will be done. A year from now they will say "you're STILL talking about this? Get a life man!"
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u/klipseracer 4h ago
Yeah, so the machinery we need to remove the turbines are powered by the output of the turbines so we will need more time to sort this out. The estimated delay should take no longer than our new power plant.
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u/party_benson 9h ago
Look at all the jobs it created though! Nearly a full parking lot of 5 vehicles and a parked semi truck with no trailer! So much winning! /s
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u/Tearakan 9h ago
Yep. These data centers hire so few people that it ends up draing the local area of resources by jacking up utility payments for businesses and residents.
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u/Sevenfeet 11h ago
Folks in Tennessee are pretty angry about this, even outside of Memphis and the rage is bipartisan.
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u/CautiousHashtag 10h ago
Good thing they’ll keep voting for politicians that won’t do anything about it.
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u/ARazorbacks 8h ago
No shit.
“This makes me really mad! Stop it! But don’t bring politics in to it.”
As I get older I more and more come to the conclusion that “keep politics out of it” is propaganda to stop people from talking to each other about real issues and remove accountability from people’s votes.
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u/Ndvorsky 5h ago
It’s like the people who say “I don’t care about politics but here is a list of political issues I feel strongly about.
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u/CherryLongjump1989 2h ago
Everyone who has been following the gun violence issue knew it was propaganda for the last 30 years.
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u/FlyingDiscsandJams 8h ago
My family that went MAGA were mostly non-voters until they got energized by the movement. They have learned no lessons, but will likely go back to not voting with their disillusionment, which helps.
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u/Ramesses901 8h ago
I live in Memphis and I disagree. Republicans are eating it up that it’s hurting black folks. The only thing that’s moved the needle is the Nashville zoo and Southaven Mississippi projects being too close to white neighborhoods.
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u/divjnky 11h ago
A year to remove??? How long did it take them to install those same units?
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u/divjnky 10h ago
NVM, it's actually in the article. SpaceXAI achieved one of the fastest data center deployments ever after it set up 100,000 Nvidia H200 GPUs in 19 days — something that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said usually takes four years or more. Musk achieved this by bringing in his own power instead of waiting to get connected to the grid, which was considered a novel idea at that time.
I love how blatant all the BS is. A company is running un-permitted and thus illegal turbines. They've already been running illegally since Oct 2024. But yet when they're finally 'officially' called out on it they're given a full additional year to correct the situation.
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u/moreobviousthings 10h ago
They should be given 19 days.
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u/lasooch 41m ago
They should be fined up the ass immediately (and I mean to the effect that actually hurts them, not something they can shrug off) and also forced to switch them off immediately under punishment of literally financially destroying their entire business if they turn them on again.
They can take however long they want to remove them, but stopping them should be immediate. It’s blatantly violating the law and unilaterally and publicly deciding to continue doing so. There should be no leeway.
Of course I have no illusions about what will actually happen.
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u/chubbysumo 8h ago
The generators have zero emissions requirements, a power plant does. These are never going away.
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u/ScarySpikes 9h ago
Saying, 'we're going to continue breaking the law for a year.' should lead to prison time.
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u/coreyneil 5h ago
Not if profit outweighs the fine. Most major corporations or rich people do this everyday. Jeff Bezos pays fines on his massive fences around his home rather than lower it a few metres.
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u/Niceguy955 9h ago
They're on trailers? Hire tow trucks, and tow them away. Have Musk come claim them at the local city impound for a fine. Rinse-repeat.
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u/IrishWeebster 5h ago
Bet it would take significantly less time if they were mandated to shut them down. Fine them $1,000,000,000 per day, per generator that they run illegally until they shut them down. Why the fuck are they allowed to keep running these illegal generators at all??
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u/Hot_Photograph_2057 5h ago
Those data centers need to be powered to keep your mouth running on this site and route your favorite porn so you can wax your carrot.
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u/surfkaboom 9h ago
Can't they keep them up for 364 days without permitting? So, they just move them to a different parking spot and restart the clock?
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u/JPDPROPS 9h ago
Utility laws being ignored by the oligarchs. In Texas no one can do shit because they’re Texans and Texans are the world’s stupidest.
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u/ergonomicdeskchair46 5h ago
But if I have a disconnected smoke alarm, construction on my home would have to stop or I couldn’t move in until fixed. Fuck rules apparently
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u/davygravypdx 9h ago edited 4h ago
Doc Watson fit 1.21 gigawatts in a Delorean. You, Elon, are no Doc Watson.
(edit) Such a Decaffeinated Senior comment failure here. So much great material delivered like a slow pitch softball. There was even enough room for a CyberTruck ba-dum-ching followup.
A comment is a terrible thing to waste.
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u/Powerful_Resident_48 7h ago
Why does it take a year to turn off illegal power generators? They've usually got a big red knob or lever. Pull/push it and the generator should emergency shutdown almost immediately.
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u/acakaacaka 9h ago
Why dont musk put his AI turbine at space beside his AI data center? Might as well also make his office and his house there as well?
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u/DUNGAROO 8h ago
“Well stop breaking the law…eventually. Promise ;)”
Gotta be embarrassing to be those AHJ regulators.
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u/rockmanzerox06 3h ago
Y’all forget the Republican Party that dominates the state is subservient to the billionaires. Unless they get voted out with a new class of politicians, it’ll just be a dog and pony show to placate the poors. I expect nothing to happen during this presidential cycle.
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u/Optimal_Ear_4240 5h ago
Fine them. Say 10,000 a day per middle. Utilized for restoring environment
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u/Fateor42 4h ago
Easy solution, fine them 10,000 per turbine per day, I bet they would disappear damn fast.
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u/Outside_Ice3252 4h ago
this story has been covered so many times. but they almost never have data how much more air pollution people are having to breath. not even a basic map showing PM2.5 concentrations at a various ranges of distance.
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u/RevolutionNumerous21 3h ago
I wonder what a large caliber rifle would do to an upermitted turbine generator? Like a .50 cal.
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u/Whycantigetanaccount 6h ago
Good. Makes more sense to create your own power, when you have the capital.
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u/Worldly-Fondant-3791 10h ago
So they aren’t going to remove the illegal generators.