Input Stories

The gas turbine shortage has created a new player in the data center-powering space: modified jet engines (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

What’s going on: “Jet engine leasing and repair company FTAI Aviation plans to start selling a modified version of the engine used in the Boeing 737 to power data centers this year.”

• Other companies are going after the same market, selling natural gas turbines adapted from airliner engine technology.

Why it’s happening: Though power-equipment firms already sell turbines modeled after plane engines, the turbine dearth—brought about by explosive growth in data center construction—means they have a years-long waiting list, “opening up an opportunity for new market participants.”

• It takes FTAI about a month to a month-and-a-half to turn a jet engine into a power-generating turbine, a conversion that has two main parts: replacing the fuel nozzles to use natural gas instead of jet fuel and replacing a large fan on the front of the engine with a smaller one.
• FTAI and other companies say data center customers are considering using their turbines to power the facilities long term, with FTAI expecting to be able to deliver about 100 turbines annually.

What’s next? “Technically, there is potential for more capacity.”

• Approximately 1,600 commercial aircraft engines get retired each year, and if even one-third of those are turned into turbines for data center use, “that would represent about 13 GW of capacity, or more than a quarter of the existing global natural gas turbine capacity estimated by Morgan Stanley.”