Posted on 11/27/2025 2:03:35 PM PST by SmokingJoe
ELON JUST CALLED MEMPHIS ENVIRONMENTALISTS' BLUFF WITH 550 ACRES OF SOLAR
xAI announced 88 acres of solar panels around the Colossus supercomputer in Memphis. Environmental groups have been screaming about grid load and gas generators for months.
Now they're getting 550 acres of renewable energy.
Environmental activists claimed xAI would "strain the grid" and "rely on fossil fuels."
Elon's response? Deploy more solar capacity than most cities see in a decade.
The local state rep who complained loudest said xAI "does not care about the people who live here." Those people are about to have the most advanced solar infrastructure in Tennessee.
This is the pattern critics refuse to acknowledge: Elon gets attacked for scaling too fast, then over-delivers on the exact solution they demanded, making them look ridiculous.
Tesla faced the same playbook. "EVs aren't practical!" Build Supercharger network. "Battery production isn't clean!" Build battery recycling. "Grid can't handle it!" Powerwall solves it.
xAI's doing it again. The AI arms race requires massive compute.
Colossus needs power. Instead of fighting Memphis or moving facilities, Elon's funding enough solar to make the entire operation carbon-neutral while powering local infrastructure.
Grok trained on this supercomputer. Now it runs on Tennessee sunshine.
Source: David Royer, Local Memphis News
(Excerpt) Read more at x.com ...
Elon simply out-thinks them.
550/640th of a square mile turned into wasteland forever.
AI facilities that require massive amounts of new electrical power should build their own needed new power sources just as Elon has.
But if they’re using intermittent power sources (e.g., wind, solar) they also should build (or at least finance) their own dedicated “back up” power sources to supply power to the facility when the wind’s not blowing and/or the sun’s not shining. That way the costs are not passed on to other users of the local grid. Just IMHO, of course.
There is that.
You can’t out-think idiots.
Life is like a Monty Python movie, Holy Grail, and you’re trying to reason with people like this: https://youtu.be/rf71YotfykQ?si=LyYL2j403zgmcJWl
Yes.
Grok:
“Exact totals fluctuate due to ongoing filings, settlements, and dismissals, but reliable estimates as of late 2025 indicate over 1,800 active and historical lawsuits combined.”
A fortune of $500 Billion will do that to you every time.
Nothing leftists love more than free money from other people.
Why doesn’t it go on the roof?
With environmentalists on the left, it’s always about politics, not the environment. There is no making them happy.
Wonder what happens to the ground beneath these solar farms when all the energy is captured before it get to the ground. There in no free lunch and I have often wondered how this capture of energy will negatively manifest itself in years to come.
“There is no making them happy.”
They think they will be happy when they control everything. The problem is who “they” are will keep getting smaller and smaller.
What a waste or 550 acres of land.
Nothing but a weed infested eyesore.
No.
Apparently you’ve never seen a solar farm.
When the solar energy hits the ground, most of it is converted to heat.
When Solar cells “capture” solar energy, about 80% is converted to heat. Later, when the electricity is used, most of it ends up as heat from various causes.
The net difference is heat going directly to the ground, with most of it ending in the air withing a few days or months, and most of it going into the air immediately or within a few days or months.
Not much difference except plants a ground surface don’t do well under solar panels.
Not a waste.
The building is the old Electrolux plant and really isn’t that large, it was light industrial.
One problem I see is panels will have to be replaced regularly. They’ll get bullet holes in them (not trying to be funny).
Not making this up. Roofers in Memphis regularly find numerous bullet holes in roofs—-if you shoot a gun in the air the bullet must come down somewhere.
Say you want to return the solar “farm” to farmland.
How much will it cost to remove all the solar panels and their steel frames and concrete bases?
How much you want to bet it will just be abandoned instead?
Elon is building massive natgas electric generation nearby. So he can use solar power during sunny daytimes. Then have the gas powered turbines kick in at night. Being gas powered, the turbines have fairly short time needed to spin up and down.
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