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$750B for Georgia build
OpenAI said it will spend $750 billion on infrastructure through 2030, a figure about 25% higher than its previous estimate earlier this year, as its Stargate data center project appears to have stalled.
“OpenAI announced Wednesday that it will spend $750 billion on infrastructure through 2030”
The first major commitment under the expanded plan is Project Camellia, a $20 billion data center campus in Effingham County, Georgia, northwest of Savannah, spanning 1,400 acres and requiring at least 3.2 gigawatts of power from Georgia Power.
TechCrunch reported that OpenAI will “pay the full cost of the infrastructure and electric-service costs” for the new data center, and that the Georgia Public Service Commission adopted a rule last year preventing utilities from passing on costs tied to new users drawing more than 100 megawatts.
The generating capacity for Project Camellia is expected to become available between 2028 and 2032, and Georgia Power said OpenAI will reduce its power draw by up to 1 gigawatt during periods of high demand on the grid.
OpenAI and Georgia Power have not disclosed how Project Camellia will be powered, even as TechCrunch said regulatory filings might provide clues about the utility’s new capacity.
Power rules and incentives
TechCrunch said the Georgia Public Service Commission adopted a rule last year to prevent utilities from passing on costs associated with new users drawing more than 100 megawatts, effectively shielding residential customers from the financial burden of powering large-scale AI infrastructure.
The same report said Georgia Power also told the PSC that OpenAI will reduce its power draw by up to 1 gigawatt during periods of high demand on the grid, a demand-response measure designed to maintain grid stability.
Effingham County granted OpenAI a 50% property tax abatement for 15 years, according to the Effingham Herald as cited by TechCrunch.
In December, Georgia Power received PSC approval to produce an additional 9,885 megawatts of capacity and expects to have all of it contracted by the end of 2026, with the OpenAI deal accounting for about a third of that new capacity.
Neither OpenAI nor Georgia Power has said how Project Camellia will be powered, and TechCrunch said it asked both companies for specifics but did not immediately receive a reply.
Grid build meets scrutiny
TechCrunch said regulatory filings indicate that most of Georgia Power’s new capacity will come from natural gas, with the utility planning to build or buy from third parties about 5.8 gigawatts of natural gas generating capacity.
“about 5.8 gigawatts of natural gas generating capacity”
The report added that about a quarter of that natural gas capacity would come from more polluting simple-cycle turbines, and that altogether the new fossil fuel capacity will more than double Georgia Power’s natural gas fleet.
The remainder, TechCrunch said, will be supplied by grid-scale batteries and solar, while electricity from Georgia Power is expected to start flowing in 2028.
TechCrunch also tied the expansion to environmental and legal pressure by noting that OpenAI recently hired Brett Mayo to lead data center construction and that Mayo previously oversaw the Colossus data center in Memphis, which a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center alleges has taken a toll on local air quality.
In that context, TechCrunch said the xAI data center has been running dozens of unpermitted natural gas turbines, claiming exemption from federal clean air regulations, as OpenAI’s Project Camellia timeline moves toward 2028 to 2032.