--- title: "MLGW: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH" source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/mlgw description: "MLGW: Memphis Light, Gas and Water, the municipal utility of Memphis." --- # MLGW What does “MLGW” mean? MLGWMemphis Light, Gas and Water, the municipal utility of Memphis. Chapter 4 reads its posted records for the second substation planned for the Memphis cluster, due in the fall of 2025, which no posted minute shows in service. *Chapter 4.* From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy) ## Where the book uses it - [Chapter 4 — One Rack](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-4)How a datacenter is actually built, from a converted factory in Memphis to a greenfield campus in Texas, and what the clock from first ground to first power really measures. ## Sources that use it - Doug McGowen, President and CEO, Memphis Light, Gas and Water, “Investing in a Stronger Tomorrow: Why MLGW is Proposing Modest Rate Adjustments,” letter to customers, 19 October 2026 (“MLGW is creating a new rate structure for data centers that will increase their water rates by 30%”; the letter “reflects the proposed rates in MLGW’s October 7, 2026, preliminary budget presentation. The increases remain subject to the approval process.”) [In the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources/company#mlgw-rate-letter-oct26) - Greater Memphis Chamber, “Velocity Meets Potency: xAI Announces Memphis as New Home,” 5 June 2024 (the public announcement — 89 elapsed days before the 2 September online declaration; Doug McGowen, MLGW’s president and chief executive, “proud of our work to provide utilities for such a massive project and to do it quickly”). [In the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources/company#chamber-xai-announce) - Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, Board of Commissioners signed minutes, 19 June 2024 (President McGowen: MLGW had learned of the project “nine days ago”; existing industrial infrastructure could meet initial needs; the company would construct a substation at its own cost with a portion transferred to MLGW). [In the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources/filing#mlgw-jun24-minutes) - Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division, “MLGW Utility Support to xAI,” slides for the Memphis City Council’s MLGW committee, 9 July 2024 (50 MW by 1 August from the existing substation and a future 150 MW substation, on the slides’ map of the site; “Developer will pay for construction of 150MW substation.”; “MLGW will provide a ‘margin allowance’ on monthly bill to recoup cost of construction of the substation (approximately $24M total).”; “MLGW will increase availability to 50MW at an MLGW capital cost of $760,000”; “Still pending is TVA Board approval of 150MW request”; “Participation in Demand Response program a practical requirement for approval”; the slides do not say over what period the allowance runs; posted on the City of Memphis’s site) [In the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources/filing#mlgw-xai-council-jul24) - Tennessee Valley Authority, Board of Directors, “Greater than 100 MW firm power arrangement with CTC Property LLC (xAI) — Resolution and Memo,” reading-room document for the board meeting of 7 November 2024 (the resolution approves 150 MW “contingent on the new customer’s agreement to certain demand response terms offered for similar customer loads”; the memorandum: TVA “would only make the requested 150 MW of power available as early as December 1, 2024 if Company agrees to demand response terms offered for similar customer loads”; CTC Property, “a new MLGW customer with a desire for a firm power contract demand of 150 MW for its initial phase of operation”; the memorandum: “In March of this year, xAI inquired about MLGW and TVA’s potential to supply a 150 MW operation at the site”; “By August of this year, xAI was already operating at over 50 MW with a combination of limited MLGW power and xAI gas turbines”) [In the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources/filing#tva-nov24-memo) And 13 more: [search the Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources). ## Related terms - [Substation](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/substation) - [Cluster](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/cluster) - [122 days](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/122-days) - [Abilene](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/abilene) - [Accelerator](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/accelerator) - [Blackwell](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/blackwell) - [Colossus](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/colossus) - [CPU](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/cpu) - [GB200 NVL72](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/gb200-nvl72) - [GB300](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/gb300) - [GPU](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/gpu) - [Greenfield](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/greenfield) From the glossary of The AI Compute Race. - [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger) - [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests) - [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard) - [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases) - [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion) - [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory) - [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine) - [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion) - [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary) - [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people) - [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources) - [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes) - [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections) - [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1) - [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper) - [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent) - [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties) *The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026. [About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)