TVA board authorizes up to 150 additional megawatts for xAI power supply in Memphis

Board action increases firm power availability for the South Memphis supercomputer site

The Tennessee Valley Authority has authorized making available up to 150 additional megawatts of firm power for xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk and served locally through Memphis Light, Gas and Water. The decision effectively doubles the amount of TVA-backed firm power previously associated with the Memphis project—from 150 megawatts to as much as 300 megawatts—reflecting a growing electricity footprint tied to large-scale AI computing.

The authorization was listed among actions taken during a TVA board meeting in early February 2026, alongside votes related to TVA’s generation portfolio and governance items. TVA also approved minutes from its November 2025 board meeting as part of the same package of actions.

What changed from the earlier approval

TVA’s board had approved a 150-megawatt arrangement in November 2024 to support the Memphis xAI facility, commonly described as a supercomputer installation. TVA policy requires board-level approval for very large new loads, and the project’s power needs have been a central point of scrutiny as the facility expanded.

Local utility presentations in early 2025 described the project as moving in phases, with the first two phases each tied to a 150-megawatt requirement. The new TVA authorization aligns with that phased framing by enabling an additional 150 megawatts of firm supply, bringing the total potential firm power available through TVA to 300 megawatts.

Infrastructure, reliability, and interim generation

As grid interconnection and substation work progressed, xAI’s Memphis site relied in part on on-site natural gas turbines for power. The use of turbines, permitting questions, and emissions concerns prompted public meetings and regulatory review at the county level. In mid-2025, regulators granted permits for 15 natural-gas-fired turbines at the Memphis facility under specified emissions limits, after months of controversy over the number of turbines observed operating on site.

Separately, local reporting during 2025 indicated that a newly constructed substation connection enabled delivery of 150 megawatts of grid power to the facility, with plans for a second substation intended to further reduce reliance on temporary on-site generation.

Key context and open questions

• Scale: A 300-megawatt firm power allocation places the Memphis project among the region’s most energy-intensive single-customer loads.
• Grid planning: TVA has been publicly describing broad, multi-year generation and transmission investments to meet fast-rising regional demand from industrial growth and electrification.
• Environmental oversight: County-level permitting for turbines and ongoing community concerns have kept attention on how quickly large AI facilities can expand relative to traditional review timelines.

The TVA authorization concerns firm power made available through Memphis Light, Gas and Water; it does not by itself resolve how and when all incremental load will be delivered across the local grid, nor does it address the status of any on-site generation beyond applicable permits and compliance requirements.

The additional 150-megawatt authorization is the clearest signal yet that TVA and its Memphis utility partner are planning for substantially higher, sustained electricity demand tied to xAI’s operations in the Memphis area, even as local and national scrutiny of data-center energy and air-quality impacts continues.