SpaceX Turns Turbine Maker as Musk Warns of Years-Long Equipment Shortage
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Elon Musk recentlywarnedthat “turbines are sold out through 2030,” saying SpaceX and Tesla would probably need to make turbine blades and vanes internally.
SpaceX is preparing a factory in Bastrop, Texas, to tackle that casting bottleneck, and Musk says bringing production in-house could get gas turbines online up to 18 months sooner.
This is where it becomes important to be specific as to which type of turbines he is referring to… POWER Magazinereportsthat data center operators are pairing industrial boilers with steam turbines to bypass the gas turbine backup.
Applied Digital CEO Wes Cummins stated gas turbines ordered today might not arrive until 2032.
Gas turbines are designed to handle high temperatures and loads, which require extremely unique alloys and manufacturing techniques.
Steam turbines handle relatively lower temperatures and allow for a wide range of alloys to be used.
Both the gas turbine and the steam turbine are ultimately running on natural gas piped directly to the site.
The gas turbines would take the fuel supplied directly and generate electricity from it.
Steam turbines require an intermediate step where the gas supply will be burned on site to boil water, which will be used to spin the turbine for electricity production.
Steam turbines and boilers enjoy an older, more established supply chain capable of ramping production up and down quickly, which is why POWER quotes Rentech Boiler Systems as being able to manufacture and deliver a packaged boiler within a year.
Babcock & Wilcox is already seeing significant interest in the new approach with a $2.4 billionagreementwith Base Electron to supply 1.2 GW of generation for Applied Digital's AI campuses.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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