Used Jet Engines Become Power Plants as AI Builders Skip Six-Year Turbine Wait

Getting a brand-new gas turbine into a U.S. data center now takes an average of six years, according to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie. Suppliers and buyers are already haggling over delivery slots in 2030 and 2031 — a schedule that collides with an AI buildout trying to switch on giant computing campuses years earlier. Global turbine orders have blown past 100 gigawatts, while manufacturers can only turn out an estimated 60 to 70 gigawatts a year, Reuters reported. Siemens Energy, GE Vernova and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have each said orders are outrunning production.

So developers are scavenging. One shortcut is the aeroderivative turbine, a generator built from technology adapted from aircraft jet engines. Others are chasing older machines and retired jet engines that can be rebuilt to make stationary power. AI infrastructure firm Crusoe ordered 13 units from Missouri-based ProEnergy in April, each rated at 50 megawatts, for a combined 650 megawatts aimed at future U.S. data centers. The contract doesn't mean Crusoe bought engines pulled off retired aircraft.

The second-hand route comes with a real discount. Used turbines in good condition go for roughly $1.5 million to $1.7 million per megawatt, against about $2 million to $2.5 million per megawatt for new equipment, according to equipment brokers and energy analysts who spoke to Reuters. One broker recalled selling two smaller turbines totaling 29 megawatts for $12.5 million; equivalent new gear would have run about $35 million and taken five years to land. "That secondary market is very, very hot right now," EthosEnergy CEO Ana Amicarella told Reuters, adding that asking prices are climbing as more buyers chase the same hardware.

The hunger is only getting louder. The International Energy Agency expects global data-center electricity consumption to nearly double by 2030, reaching 950 terawatt-hours from 485 terawatt-hours in 2025, with AI-focused facilities tripling their draw over the same stretch. Power-market research firm Cleanview counted about 90 gigawatts of proposed on-site generation at U.S. data centers in its mid-2026 analysis — only about 2 gigawatts of that was actually operating at the time.

On-site power isn't a free pass. Building a plant next to a data center drags in fuel supply, air emissions and permits, and the Environmental Protection Agency says the stationary turbines and engines data centers use fall under federal air-pollution standards. Last week OpenAI pledged to cover electricity and grid costs at future campuses it owns and operates, after voters backed tighter restrictions on data-center construction. Developers aren't only buying turbines: Finnish manufacturer Wärtsilä told Reuters it has booked around 3 gigawatts of orders from U.S. data centers since spring 2025 for generators running on gas engines instead.