Tesla’s Master Plans have consistently aimed to accelerate a shift from hydrocarbon energy to a solar electric economy. Recently, xAI has adopted mine-and-burn natural gas turbines to power data centers and plans major additional purchases, reinforcing fossil fuel use in its AI operations. Tesla has supplied other companies through internal procurement, including SpaceX buying Cybertrucks and xAI buying Tesla Megapacks for grid-scale battery storage. In SpaceX’s filing, solar power appears mainly as space-based solar for data-center power, with terrestrial solar mentioned only briefly to compare performance. Space-based solar arrays are claimed to produce more energy due to continuous illumination, aligning with growing interest in space-based power amid Earth-based opposition.
"Tesla has released four Master Plans over the years, and while details have varied, the through line has been electrification of the economy. Musk put it best in his first edition: "the overarching purpose of Tesla motors...is to help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy.""
"But recently, one of Musk's companies, xAI, has embraced the mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy, using dozens of unregulated natural gas turbines to power its data centers with plans to buy $2.8 billion more, effectively cementing the fossil fuel's role in the company's AI operations."
"SpaceX spent $131 million on 1,279 Cybertrucks, and xAI has spent $697 million in the last two years on Tesla Megapacks, it's grid-scale battery storage systems that the company will use to manage peak loads. But so far, xAI hasn't bought a materially significant number of solar panels from Tesla."
"Solar power isn't missing in the SpaceX filing, it's just all concentrated on space, which the company touts as the future of data center power. Terrestrial solar garners a few mentions - not as a power source for xAI data centers but instead to show how much better SpaceX thinks space-based solar will be. SpaceX says that space-based solar arrays can generate "more than five-times the energy" of terrestrial ones thanks to 24/7 illumination."
#tesla-master-plans #space-based-solar-power #natural-gas-data-centers #grid-scale-battery-storage #ai-energy-infrastructure
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