Grounded jet engines take off again as datacenter generators
Dan RobinsonWed 22 Oct 2025 //
dg>>AI, Bitcoin, quantum computing based demand for energy is in such panic I wonder what happened to the No nukes protest rallies from the 70’s
AI-driven datacenter energy needs are causing a shortage of gas turbines to power generators, with some operators reportedly turning to old aircraft engines instead.
The rising demand for compute to feed the current AI development craze has seen datacenters adding capacity and new ones popping up, with a knock-on effect on the electricity supply.
As The Register reported recently, US bit barns are set to consume 22 percent more grid power by the end of 2025 than the same time last year. But in many regions the energy grid can't keep pace with connection requests, leading operators to turn to on-site generation of their own power, as advised by Schneider Electric last year.
But one thing leads to another, and now it seems that gas turbine manufacturers can't meet the sudden rise in demand, particularly in the US where there are more datacenters than anywhere else, leading to a shortage in some markets.
The Financial Times says two-thirds of gas turbines for electricity generation come from three manufacturers: Japan's MHI, Germany's Siemens, and GE Vernova, the latter formed from a spin-out of General Electric's energy businesses.
It quotes an MHI executive as saying: "There's so much demand right now that we can't meet it all," and that there is a lot of demand out of North America, meaning customers are now facing a three-year waiting list for delivery of turbine generators.
A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis(IEEFA) notes the effect this is having in Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and the Philippines.
Manufacturers are reporting wait times of up to five years for larger turbines, and are also starting to charge non-refundable reservation fees. One developer is said to have paid GE Vernova $25 million just to reserve a 2030 delivery slot.
In response to the shortage, US company ProEnergy has now turned to offering repurposed jet engines, which is what gas turbines basically are.
According to IEEE Spectrum, published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, some datacenters are already using PE6000 turbines supplied by ProEnergy to provide the power needed during construction of the facility and during its first few years of operation.
When grid power becomes available, these turbines will be relegated to a backup role, supplement the grid supply, or sold on to another buyer.
In this case, ProEnergy buys and overhauls used General Electric CF6 engines, a type used in commercial airliners, and adapts them to drive a generator rather than produce thrust.
A shortage of gas turbines could cause problems for datacenter developers as the alternatives for on-site power generation are diesel generators, or more exotic solutions such as fuel cells or colocating facilities with wind farms. Some have suggested small modular reactors (SMRs) as another solution, but these are not likely to be ready before the end of the decade. ® |
