Tennessee data-center water and capacity: what is and isn’t disclosed

The Hermes 2 agreement covers up to 50 MW scheduled for 2030; it is planned, not delivered or energized capacity. [Kairos Power] MLGW says it supplies about 0.5 MW at 5420 Tulane Road and is not supplying Colossus 2. [Memphis Light, Gas and Water]

Our analysis: a GPU count, a utility request and an energized connection are different quantities.

Meta says its Gallatin campus is designed to use 80% less water than the average data center. [Meta]

Our analysis: a design comparison is not a measured withdrawal figure. Where a campus has not disclosed water use, that value is unknown, not zero.

The Commercial Appeal reported the Shelby County Health Department granted xAI an air permit for 15 natural-gas turbines on July 2, 2025. [The Commercial Appeal]

Our analysis: read the permit itself for limits and duration.

Meta reports 530 MW of new renewable energy from eight Meta-supported projects with TVA in Tennessee. [Meta]

Our analysis: procured renewable capacity is not the same as a campus’s load.

Our analysis: keep four dates apart for every record: the date a source was published, the date the desk reviewed it, the date a decision or approval took effect, and the date anything actually started operating. A review date on this site never turns an older announcement into new news, and a planned figure is never presented as a delivered one.

Our analysis: when a field such as investment, power or employment is not disclosed in a cited record, the desk leaves it blank rather than estimating it. A blank is unknown, not zero, and readers should ask the controlling party for the actual document before relying on any number. County boundaries come from the Census Gazetteer so that every record can be tied to one of Tennessee’s 95 counties. [U.S. Census Bureau]

Our analysis: corrections are welcome. If a cited page changes, moves or is superseded by a newer agency decision, the desk updates the record with the new source and its own date rather than silently rewriting the old claim. Readers making a consequential decision should consult the controlling agency record and qualified professionals.