Gigawatt Ledger · one-page briefing
Campus profile Under construction
Colossus 2 / Southaven
xAI · Southaven, Mississippi
The resource footprint
Modelled averageIn one day, this campus consumes about
1.350-metre swimming pools
Filled with the volume of water consumed by the campus and its electricity supply.
The actual estimate857,515 US gallons consumed
Power-plant water may come from a different watershed. This is a volume comparison, not a claim that households lose this water.
At current operating capacity · Annual model spread evenly over time, not a live meter. Site estimates may differ by roughly ±40%.
Comparison sizes & sources
One pool = 50 × 25 × 2 metres = 2.5 million litres (about 660,430 US gallons). Pool depths vary; this is a defined comparison size.
One home-year = 10,791 kWh, the EIA’s 2022 average US residential electricity purchases. This excludes electricity generated at home and is a fixed US benchmark for all sites.
One car-year = 4.6 tonnes CO₂, the EPA’s typical passenger vehicle tailpipe estimate. The campus model is in CO₂e; the comparison expresses approximate climate scale, not equal mixtures of pollutants.
Monthly values are annual totals ÷ 12; daily values are annual totals ÷ 365. Actual demand varies. Comparisons cover the whole campus, including non-AI uses.
Water: see the numbers and sources
This is water used up, mainly through evaporation. Power-generation water may be used in a different watershed.
- Pressure on local water
- Low-Medium — a regional measure of demand compared with available water
- Where the water comes from
- Municipal potable supply
- Cooling
- Liquid-to-chip closed loop
- Basis
- Modelled from cooling design — WUE 0.19 L/kWh
Air: see the numbers and sources
The totals include nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and fine particles. They cover both this site and the power plants supplying it.
- Health range
- $6.34–18.0 million a year. Lower bound is EASIUR national mid-range; upper is EPA benefit-per-ton at a ~$12M VSL.
- Statistical deaths
- 1.50 a year at that VSL — a national-average conversion from tons, not a local concentration study.
- Equals
- 281,459 cars of NOx
- Where it burns
- TVA — Tennessee Valley + 40% turbines on the site itself
- Generation mix
- Nuclear 41 · Gas 27 · Coal 13 · Hydro 10
- Emitted at the fence line
- 49% of this site's criteria pollution
- Diesel backup
- Forty-one permanent turbines permitted (1.2 GW). Temporary units on site have been reported as 57–69; 57 is used as the observed count.
- Air permit
- 1,700 t/yr NOx potential-to-emit
- Turbines
- 41 permitted, 57 observed on site
- CO₂e
- 321 kt/yr — climate, not air quality
The project, approvals and community concerns
- Who asked for it
- xAI — self-build; also drawing on a Solaris Energy gas turbine fleet
- Who approved it
- DeSoto County and Mississippi state incentives; MDEQ air permitting for on-site turbines; TVA power supply agreement
- What it serves
- Grok training capacity expansion across the state line from Memphis
- IT capacity
- 100 MW current capacity / 600 MW full-build scenario
Built just across the Mississippi line from the Memphis site, in a different air-permitting jurisdiction. Whether that was deliberate is disputed, but it is a recurring pattern: state lines are where large loads shop for permits.
Keep this guide handy
34.9890°, -90.0126°
Quote or share these estimates
Gigawatt Ledger (2026). Colossus 2 / Southaven: water and air. https://gigawatt-ledger.pages.dev/site/southaven/. Modelled from disclosed capacity; site-level error ±40%.
Include the estimate’s date, whether it describes current or proposed capacity, and its uncertainty. Get an embeddable card.
Gigawatt Ledger · September 2026. Water and air figures are estimated from public records and disclosed capacity. How we calculate them · Use this in your community.