The Georgia Public Service Commission has approved a power supply contract between Georgia Power and OpenAI covering the artificial intelligence company's planned data center in Effingham County, Georgia.
Under the agreement, Georgia Power will develop 3.2 GW of new generating capacity, and OpenAI has committed to paying the full cost of the infrastructure required to serve the campus. The utility has not disclosed what type of generation it will build. OpenAI also agreed to supply up to 1 GW of flexible demand response. Georgia Power expects to begin delivering energy between 2028 and 2032.
Kim Greene, chairman, president and chief executive of Georgia Power, said the contract framework is structured so that data centers pay more and families and small businesses pay less, and pointed to reliability and affordability as the priorities behind the utility's decisions.
The project, known as Project Camelia, was first disclosed in July. It will occupy part of the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub, an industrial-zoned tract of more than 2,600 acres. Plans call for four data center buildings totaling roughly 4.4 million square feet, with OpenAI expected to invest more than $30 billion in the development. The company has said the site will run a closed-loop water cooling system and will not divert water from surrounding communities.
Effingham County sits in southeastern Georgia near Savannah and currently hosts no data centers, according to DataCenterMap. Most of the state's existing capacity is concentrated around Atlanta and Augusta.
OpenAI has several other US projects underway. Its flagship Stargate campus is already operating in Abilene, Texas, with additional sites in development in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Texas.
Source: Data Center Dynamics - https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/openai-gets-green-light-for-32gw-power-deal-to-supply-planned-data-center-in-effingham-county-georgia/