Tim Pool

If the bill passes, data center companies could also produce their own behind-the-meter power or buy electricity from independent power producers without needing approval from a state regulator.

Independent power producers sometimes referred to as merchant power plants.

These companies would not face regulatory oversight from the Tennessee Public Utility Commission, which has previously handled cases for such plants.

The bill's intent is to deregulate, Bussey said.

In Memphis, Elon Musk data center XAI runs GROK, the artificial intelligence for X. The company has largely been running on behind the meter generation.

Its first facility in its classes one initially did not have permits when it plugged in about 30 mini gas turbines, which collectively could power more than 200,000 homes.

XAI is now using about 15 turbines at that site.

In February, the company got approval to source about 300 megawatts of power from the Tennessee Valley Authority, the federal utility that serves 10 million people in the region.

Something interesting happened a few years ago.

We talked about it last year.

Unaccounted for power flowing into northern Virginia.

At the time, everybody was confused.

The general power consumption for the area, I think, I'm probably going to numbers wrong, was like two gigawatts or something.

And then they found it was consuming like seven gigawatts or something.

I don't know what the right number is.

Maybe that's not the right number.

Maybe it's too small, too big.

I don't know.

The point is, there was a more than double unaccounted for energy surge in northern Virginia.

And then they figured it out.