OpenAI has announced Project Camellia, a long term data center development in Effingham County, Georgia, adding another very large load to a state grid already absorbing rapid data center growth. Georgia Power has documented a 3,200 megawatt customer commitment and has been reviewing an anonymized 3,210 megawatt project on a matching development timeline.
Georgia has moved into the front rank of US data center markets, with tracking services counting between 169 and 241 facilities across the state depending on methodology. Metro Atlanta anchors the market, and secondary sites in coastal and northeast Georgia have absorbed projects that could not secure power or acreage inside the perimeter. In February the Forsyth city council approved a 12 million square foot campus on about 1,600 acres developed by Trammell Crow, and Microsoft has projects underway in Palmetto in Fulton County and in Douglasville.
Supporting manufacturing is following the load. In Pendergrass in northeast Georgia, Siemens plans a 185 million dollar plant producing low voltage electrical infrastructure products for data centers. In Claremont, North Carolina, Prysmian is directing 1.02 billion dollars toward doubling its fiber optic manufacturing capacity, with another 48 million dollars for optical cable production at the same campus, work the company expects to create 385 jobs.
Transmission has become the friction point. Georgia Power has pursued eminent domain across roughly 1,000 miles of planned grid expansion tied to data center demand, a process that has drawn opposition from affected property owners.
Source: Data Center Knowledge - https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/data-center-construction/new-data-center-developments-august-2026