Financial Analyst/Content Writer, RADEX MARKETS
Lawrence J. came from a strong technical and engineering background before pivoting into a more financial role later on in his career. Always interested in international finance, Lawrence is experienced in both traditional markets as well as the emerging crypto markets. He now serves as the financial writer for RADEX MARKETS.
PODÍL
In a bid to quench the endless thirst for power within AI data centres, operators are turning to yet another novel source of electricity, this time in the form of decommissioned jet engines.
Data centres are being built as fast as humanly possible, and while computer components are proving to be a sizeable bottleneck, so too are their ravenous energy requirements. Waiting on local power companies to connect AI facilities to the grid can take a surprisingly long time due to transmission line limits and regional bureaucratic processes, forcing hyperscalers to take matters into their own hands.
The latest trick up their collective sleeve is to purchase retired jet engines and repurpose each one into a small gas-powered turbine, which is then connected to a generator to produce electricity. Traditional gas turbine manufacturers such as Siemens or Mitsubishi are currently facing multi-year backlogs on their products. Placing such an order is a fool’s errand; operators need power now. What better place to find it than inside one of the most reliable engines ever built?
The CFM56, jointly manufactured by GE Aerospace and Safran, first entered service over 40 years ago and eventually became the best-selling jet engine in aviation history, utterly dominating commercial air travel. It has been the unrivalled workhorse for entire ranges of aircraft, including the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, clocking over one billion hours of flight time across its fleet of engines. To date, an astounding 34 thousand units have been delivered around the world.
Alas, being a jet engine is tough work. Despite the technological wizardry involved in manufacturing the various components in question, the forces of nature gradually take their toll and with each passing year the decommissioning reaper draws closer.
Tens of thousands of CFM56 engines remain operational in aeroplanes around the world, but every year a certain number are retired for good, never to grace the skies again.
Rather than being torn down and disassembled for spare parts, these units are now being snapped up by the likes of FTAI Aviation, which converts the engines into self-contained mobile power plants at their factories, before shipping them out to wherever they may be required.
From a technical perspective, the process is relatively straightforward.
Under normal circumstances, a turbofan engine generates thrust via a combustion reaction that drives a turbine, which then spins the large front-facing fan visible on most commercial aircraft. However, because the engine’s only purpose is to generate electricity, the fan and all other aeronautical elements are discarded.
The second part of the conversion is to change the fuel system. Jet engines are designed to burn refined, energy-dense kerosene, which is a fantastic choice for cruising above the clouds, but prohibitively expensive on the ground. Existing fuel manifolds are therefore scrapped and replaced with natural gas delivery systems, while the combustion chamber is modified to handle the new type of fuel.
With the combustion chamber up to spec, the third stage involves connecting the fast-rotating turbine to an electrical generator by means of a reducing gearbox. Once connected, the generator can produce a stable 25 MW of electrical power. The only remaining step is to build the necessary cooling and air filtration systems that arise as a result of having a jet engine bolted to the floor.
Hundreds of such units are currently under contract for delivery across the United States, but data centres are already hungry for more. Deployment is quickly ramping up, with targets to convert hundreds of CFM56 engines every single year. This is by no means a problem because such engines are decommissioned from the aviation industry at a similar rate. With so many still flying in the sky, there is an endless supply of inventory waiting to be repurposed.
There are in fact many other turbofan engines to choose from. Missouri-based ProEnergy opted for the larger CF6 engine used on wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 747, with which the company produces a huge 50 MW gas turbine. One example among many.
Speed is the primary factor driving such ventures forward. The typical lead time for a brand-new industrial turbine is over five years. On the other hand, a converted aeroderivative engine can be delivered in as little as 12-24 months, with the actual conversion work itself taking less than two months. Faced with potentially years of idle time for their precious computer hardware, data centres are understandably searching for power wherever they can find it.
About the Author
Lawrence J. came from a strong technical and engineering background before pivoting into a more financial role later on in his career. Always interested in international finance, Lawrence is experienced in both traditional markets as well as the emerging crypto markets. He now serves as the financial writer for RADEX MARKETS.
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