This is a sign for the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub in Effingham County, Georgia.
Courtesy/Effingham County Industrial Development Authority
OpenAI, the owner of query giant ChatGPT, plans to build a 3.2 gigawatt, 1,400-acre data center in Effingham County, marking the largest planned data center in the Southeast and the company’s largest data center campus to date.
OpenAI and Effingham County Industrial Development Authority reached a $20 billion dollar agreement to have a new data center humming away at Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub, about 30 minutes north of the city, as early as 2028.
In addition to the billions in capital investment, the AI data center dubbed “Project Camellia” will bring 400 jobs, $80 million in community benefits and $71 million in coding classes for Georgia students, according a news release Wednesday from the Effingham County Board of Commissioners.
Two county commissioners also voiced their support for the project Wednesday.
“This is the kind of responsible investment and smart growth our community deserves, and I am proud to support the project,” Commissioner Roger Burdete said on the Project Camellia website. ”… a project of this magnitude must meet strict standards for environmental responsibility, public safety, and meaningful community return. After carefully evaluating the project, we found that it will use minimal water, will not increase energy costs for county residents, will create quality jobs, and will generate substantial new revenue for our schools and essential county services.“
Georgia Power will serve and support the project.
“We appreciate the leadership and thoughtfulness of the OpenAI team as they prepare to bring significant investment and cutting-edge technology to Georgia,” said Aaron Mitchell, senior vice president of strategic growth for Georgia Power, in a news release.
However, Savannah Riverkeeper Executive Director Tonya Bonitatibus said she’s skeptical about the location and feasibility of high water usage around Georgia for all of the planned data centers, despite the company committing to a closed-loop system.
“(Data centers) keep talking about minimal water usage but, in reality, Georgia Power is the single largest water user, by far and away,” Bonitatibus said. “(Georgia Power) is going to double energy consumption with all of these data centers. That is another 600 to 1.3 million gallons (of water) per day — gone. How are in the world are they going to pull this off?”
Last December, the Georgia Public Service Commission approved a 10 GW expansion, 90% of which is for data centers, Georgia Power has previously testified.
“What do they think Georgia is going to look like in 10 years?” Bonitatibus said.
Effingham County doesn’t have ordinances for data centers written into its code, unlike dozens of cities and counties around the state that have created guardrails for the facilities.
Bulloch County, just next door to Effingham, passed a moratorium on data centers in May and is creating an ordinance to permanently block data centers, according to local reporting.
The move came after backlash against data center development has skyrocketed in Georgia over the past 12 months — complaints about noise, water and energy use, electricity cost, property value, harm to wildlife and a lack of transparency have accompanied projects throughout the Peach State.
How will it be powered? The first demand response data center
Project Camellia, as announced, is massive — its power would be as much as proposed Project Ruby in Columbus (600 MW), proposed Project Arrowhead in Irwin (1,250 MW) and QTS Project in Blakely (1,400 MW) combined.
“That’s three out of four Vogtle units worth of energy,” Bob Sherrier, attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center said, referring to Nuclear Plant Vogtle which totals about 4,600 MW of energy.
Most of Georgia Power’s grid is powered by gas, a known contributor to climate change. The current Georgia Power energy portfolio is about 42% gas, 28% nuclear, 17% coal and 12% renewables like solar, batteries and hydro..
But, OpenAI could potentially be more efficient and use less energy through a methodology called “demand response”
OpenAI is, for the first time, committing to using demand response, which would be a first for Georgia and second for AI companies, after Google. Google announced it signed 1,000 MW (1 GW) of demand response in March from various data centers across the country.
Georgia Power said in a news release that OpenAI intends to use 1,000 megawatts of the 3.2 GW in demand response.
Professor of Sustainable Systems at Georgia Tech and energy modeling analyst Marilyn Brown has been teaching energy systems like demand response at Georgia Tech and welcomes this initiative. She testified during the 2022 Georgia Power Integrated Resource Plan advocating for Demand Side Management.
Turning energy down during peak demand and then storing it for when it’s needed is how Brown described demand response. It’s a shift in energy needs that can be put in storage or other uses.
“Think of a water heater that you turn off at your home, but the water stays warm for several hours after,” she said. Utilities and electricity can apply the same logic.
“When there’s an immediate need, (OpenAI) can shed load that would otherwise be very expensive to meet,” she said. “As a result, the agreement with OpenAI should lower Georgia Power’s costs [putting downward pressure on rates]; in addition, reliability can be improved and outages can be avoided.”
She hasn’t done a detailed analysis on OpenAI’s program proposal, but Georgia Power has been leading in demand response in big power users and industry customers, but not data centers, Brown said.
“I”m not sure if they will use batteries or borrow from neighbors to store energy,” Brown said.
Like Brown, Sherrier said he’s very curious about the demand response proposal from OpenAI, but wants answers on how they plan to do it.
Georgia Power nor OpenAI have not disclosed how they will achieve this.
“Are they going to turn off the computer or are they going to crank up a bunch of diesel generators?” Sherrier said.
OpenAI said the power will be delivered in phases between 2028 and 2032, according to their blog post on Wednesday.
“(Project Camellia) is designed to proactively reduce its power consumption before residential customers are impacted during periods of high demand, so we can meaningfully support the reliability of Georgia Power’s electric system and support our neighbors,” the post said.
Community benefits, tax abatements and wetlands
As part of the project, OpenAI will give $80 million to Effingham County and wants feedback from residents on what to put the money toward, Aaron McLear, OpenAI communications director, said.
He said he hopes to get input from the community at an open house Thursday evening.
Schools, public safety, healthcare, utilities, workforce training, housing and veterans services are all benefits that OpenAI is willing to provide, McLear said.
OpenAI said it will create thousands of construction jobs, permanent on-site jobs and prioritize local contractors and businesses in Project Camellia, according to the announcement blog post.
Locals will soon see a change in property tax, too.
“The revenue generated by this project will accelerate that vision and make Project Zero a reality as early as next year,” Effingham County Manager Tim Callanan said in a news release. Project Zero is the local government’s commitment to eliminate county homestead property taxes. “Current estimates project the average homeowner will see a 40% reduction in property taxes.”
OpenAI also will give out $100 in Codex credits to Georgia community and technical college students who want to get involved in coding, a total of about $71 million in credits. Codex is OpenAI’s agentic coding tool, now available within ChatGPT, that helps people build software and complete technical projects, according to their blog post.
The Savannah site is already zoned industrial, and OpenAI said this project will “generate materially less traffic than a warehouse project on the same site.”
There are four buildings around 720,000-square feet each, according to the Effingham Gateway website.
Bonitatibus, the local Riverkeeper director, said she’s concerned about the loss of wetlands and using Savannah River water, which is “dirty” by the time it gets to the Savannah area.
“We are talking about a massive amount of wetland loss. 1,400 acres of concrete isn’t going to help,” she said. “We’re making these changes to the land so quickly, and I don’t think we are taking into consideration what is going to help people downstream. We need to have some hard questions answered about where these (data centers) make the most sense. This is going to be in a hurricane zone sitting on a major evacuation route.”
OpenAI will receive a 50% property tax abatement for 15 years with a 2026 millage rate, as part of its incentive package, according to Frank Adams, spokesperson for the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority.
“The agreement is structured so that the county and school system receive more tax revenue than they would without the abatement, which is one reason they strongly support it,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. “This does not include the additional revenue the project will generate through other taxes that also benefit Effingham County. Overall, the company is expected to become the largest taxpayer in Effingham County’s history. “
Kala Hunter
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Kala Hunter is a reporter covering climate change and environmental news in Columbus and throughout the state of Georgia. She has her master’s of science in journalism from Northwestern, Medill School of Journalism. She has her bachelor’s in environmental studies from Fort Lewis College in Colorado. She’s worked in green infrastructure in California and Nevada. Her work appears in the Bulletin of Atomic Science, Chicago Health Magazine, and Illinois Latino News Network.
