Tennessee Data Center Intel

Recent Tennessee data center news

• Jan 15, 2026

  EPA updates turbine regulations. How it could impact xAI power options

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency updated turbine performance standards under the Clean Air Act.

  • Main action: On Jan. 9, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a notice implementing new performance standards for combustion and gas turbines; the rule was formally posted on the Federal Register on Jan. 15, 2026 and would require air and construction permits for all such turbines, including temporary units operating under a year.
  • Impacts and context: The article states this decision “may impact” xAI’s power options for its Memphis and Southaven data center campuses; the regulation is tied to the Clean Air Act and specifically addresses combustion and stationary gas turbines with permitting implications rather than stated financial penalties or timelines beyond the posting date.
• Jan 15, 2026

  EPA drops health cost calculations for air pollution: How it could harm Detroiters

  The Environmental Protection Agency will stop calculating monetary health benefits (prevented deaths and health-care cost savings) for ozone and PM 2.5 in its rulemaking process (Jan. 9 decision).

  • Main action: The EPA announced on Jan. 9 it will stop monetizing health benefits from reductions in ozone and PM 2.5 while continuing to count industry compliance costs; the agency said it is “refining its methods” and will still consider pollutant impacts but not their monetary valuation at this time.
  • Background and related details: The change follows legal and policy battles including a 2025 finding that Wayne County failed to meet the EPA’s PM 2.5 standard, a Dec. 2025 Sixth Circuit ruling returning the Detroit region to ozone nonattainment, and concerns the change could affect auto emissions rules and emissions from natural gas turbines at data centers; related coverage notes the EPA seeks a $140 million civil penalty vs the facility’s proposed $5 million settlement in an EES Coke Battery case.
• Jan 15, 2026

  Cleanstar National Inc Expands Critical Environment Cleaning Operations Across the Southeast

  Cleanstar National Inc has announced expansion of its specialized critical environment cleaning operations across the Southeastern United States.

  • Expansion scope: Cleanstar National Inc is expanding operations across Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee to support data centers, healthcare campuses, higher education, industrial facilities, and construction projects; the company cites more than 30 years of experience and a self-performing workforce of over 700 E-Verified professionals and offers audit-ready protocols aligned with EPA, ISO 14644, GMP, OSHA, IICRC, and IJCSA.
  • Operational details and background: The company is founder-led since 1995, operates a fully self-performing model with zero outsourcing, provides 24/7 emergency response, and will deliver standardized, compliance-first cleaning services to support multi-site portfolios and regional developments from its Metro Atlanta headquarters.
• Jan 14, 2026

  xAI’s AI Factories: From Colossus to MACROHARDRR in the Gigawatt Era

  Mississippi officials announced that xAI will invest more than $20 billion to build a new MACROHARDRR campus in Southaven, expected to begin operations in February 2026.

  • Main announcement:xAI will invest more than $20 billion in the MACROHARDRR campus in Southaven, DeSoto County, with operations expected to begin February 2026; the deal includes sales and use tax exemptions on computing hardware and software, waivers of sales, corporate income, and franchise taxes, and reduced property taxes at city and county level.
  • Background and details:Colossus (Memphis) was built inside a former Electrolux factory with the first major system completed in about 122 days and doubled in roughly 92 more days to ~200,000 GPUs; utilities approved staged power (initial 150 MW then a second 150 MW to reach 300 MW), xAI proposed a recycled wastewater plant up to 13 million gallons per day, and interim on-site natural-gas generation prompted permit contests and community opposition.
• Jan 13, 2026

  Sean Turner: Using AI to bridge river models, power grid operations

  Sean Turner at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is developing national-scale hydrology models using large-sample deep learning to simulate river temperatures and to couple river models with power grid operations.

  • Main action: Turner is creating national-scale hydrology models that use large-sample deep learning to simulate river temperature and behavior across 2.7 million stream reaches in the lower 48 states, despite limited observations (~300 long-duration river temperature records; 2 river reaches in Tennessee). He joined ORNL in 2023 and is developing tools to link river models with power grid operations to support scheduling of hydropower resources.
  • Background and details: Turner applies experience from United Utilities, PNNL, and the Joint Global Change Research Institute; the work uses ORNL supercomputing resources and aims to support decisions including siting for small modular nuclear reactors and data centers, and operational planning with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
• Jan 13, 2026

  Can retired naval power plants solve the data center power crunch?

  HGP Intelligent Energy LLC has proposed repurposing nuclear reactors from the retired USS Nimitz to power a land-based data center project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

  • Project details: The proposal would redirect two retired naval reactors to an Oak Ridge data center, projected to produce about 450-520 mW of steady power (stated), enough to power roughly 360,000 homes or one data center; the plan requires 5 stages and is estimated to take a decade. The company proposes a revenue share with the government and creation of a decommissioning fund.
  • Costs, timeline, and regulatory context: The filing estimates rewiring costs of $1 million to $4 million per megawatt (USD) as a cheaper alternative to building new reactors; Bloomberg reported the plan and HGP’s application to the Department of Energy. The proposal faces regulatory and technical obstacles cited by JLL’s Kristen Vosmaer, including weapons-grade uranium possession restrictions, no NRC licensing pathway for military reactors, and the need for complete reconstruction to meet civilian safety standards. As an alternative, floating natural gas turbine barges are noted as deployable in 12–24 months within existing regulatory frameworks.
• Jan 12, 2026

  Trump’s EPA plans to ignore health affects of air pollution

  The Trump administration’s EPA is proposing to stop counting the value of human health (the value of statistical life) when regulating ground-level ozone and PM2.5 fine particulate pollution, according to a New York Times report.

  • Policy change: The EPA proposal would no longer count the value of human health when performing cost-benefit analyses for regulations on ozone and PM2.5; this change was reported by The New York Times and is described as overturning decades of practice.
  • Context and supporting details: The article cites long-established links between PM2.5/ozone and illnesses (asthma, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia, type 2 diabetes, low birth weight) and notes as many as 10 million deaths per year worldwide tied to PM2.5; it also gives a concrete data-centre example — xAI used “dozens of unpermitted natural gas turbines” to power its Colossus data center — and records support for the change from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (quote from Marty Durbin, president of the Chamber’s Global Energy Institute).
• Jan 9, 2026

  Meta Strikes Deal With Irving’s Vistra to Purchase Nuclear Power for Meta’s AI ‘Supercluster’

  Meta has signed 20-year power purchasing agreements (PPAs) with Vistra to procure 2,609 MW of zero-carbon nuclear energy to support Meta’s operations and its Prometheus AI supercluster in New Albany, Ohio.

  • Main announcement & deal details: Meta is purchasing 2,176 MW from operating units at Perry and Davis-Besse plus 433 MW of incremental output from equipment uprates at Perry (OH), Davis-Besse (OH), and Beaver Valley (PA) for a total of 2,609 MW; the PPAs are 20-year agreements, purchases begin in late 2026 and the full 2,609 MW will be online by 2034; Vistra will use the commitment to invest in uprates and pursue subsequent 20-year license extensions for the three plants.
  • Background and implementation details: Vistra acquired the plants in 2023, recently agreed to acquire Cogentrix Energy in a $4 billion deal; uprate projects span approximately nine years and are expected to support ~3,000 project-related jobs, increase state and local tax revenues (described as tens of millions of dollars annually), and benefit the PJM regional grid (PJM service area list provided in article).
• Jan 9, 2026

  Trump’s AI push breathes life into an old pollution scourge

  The EPA under Administrator Lee Zeldin plans to loosen enforcement of a 2024 Biden-era coal ash rule, proposing regulatory changes and potentially granting a three-year cleanup extension to 11 power plants for 13 unlined coal ash dumps.

  • Main action: EPA plans to propose amendments to the 2024 coal ash rule and is considering a three-year extension (to Oct. 17, 2031) for a subset of plants; the proposal would apply to 11 plants and 13 unlined ash dumps (each spanning more than 40 acres), and the agency will accept comments through February 6, 2026. The agency says the extension aims to promote grid reliability amid rising demand from AI data centers.
  • Background and details: The 2024 rule had expanded oversight to legacy ash dumps after earlier exemptions; EPA and companies cite implementation challenges. Examples: NIPSCO/Schahfer previously expected to close by 2028 but EPA proposed extension to Oct. 2031; PacifiCorp stopped burning coal on Dec. 31 and will not use the extension (stop disposing ash by Sept. 30); several plants (Naughton, Baldwin) have reported groundwater exceedances of contaminants such as arsenic, lithium, fluoride and radium. EPA has not publicly confirmed compliance status for the 11 plants identified.
• Jan 9, 2026

  Big Tech Data Centers: Meta's Massive Nuclear Power Deals, $20B by xAI in Mississippi

  Meta announced agreements with TerraPower, Oklo and Vistra to provide nuclear power for its Prometheus AI data center in New Albany, Ohio.

  • Main announcement:Meta signed deals with TerraPower, Oklo and Vistra to support up to 6.6 gigawatts of new and existing clean energy by 2035 for its Prometheus 1-gigawatt AI cluster (expected online in 2026). The TerraPower agreement funds development of two Natrium units (up to 690 MW deliverable as early as 2032) and rights to energy from up to six additional Natrium units (total 2.1 GW targeted by 2035); Vistra will provide more than 2.1 GW from two operating Ohio plants plus expansions and a third plant in Pennsylvania; Oklo will help develop a 1.2 GW power campus in Pike County, Ohio. Financial terms for these Meta deals were not disclosed.
  • Background and related announcement:xAI announced a $20 billion investment to build the MACROHARDRR data center cluster in Southaven/DeSoto County, Mississippi; xAI says the cluster will house “the world’s largest supercomputer” with 2 gigawatts of computing power. Under 2024 incentives the state will waive sales, corporate income and franchise taxes for the project and local authorities agreed to substantially reduced property taxes; xAI is expected to begin operations next month. Environmental concerns were raised by the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center and a petition from the Safe and Sound Coalition had 900+ signatures as of the announcement.