OpenAI said it will invest $750 billion in infrastructure through 2030, about 25% more than its estimate earlier this year. The company's initial large-scale commitment under that plan is a $20 billion data center campus in Georgia, to be called Project Camellia.
Location and scale of the campus
Project Camellia will be located northwest of Savannah on roughly 1,400 acres in Effingham County. The campus is expected to draw at least 3.2 gigawatts (GW) of power supplied by Georgia Power.
Power supply and timeline
Georgia Power has indicated the generation capacity needed for the project could become available between 2028 and 2032. OpenAI said it will “pay the full cost of the infrastructure and electric‑service costs” for the new data center. A rule adopted last year by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) prevents utilities from passing costs associated with new users that draw more than 100 megawatts on to other customers.
OpenAI also agreed to reduce its power draw by up to 1 GW during periods of high grid demand.
Tax incentives and unanswered questions
Effingham County granted OpenAI a 50% property tax abatement for 15 years. Neither OpenAI nor Georgia Power has provided detailed disclosure about what generation sources will ultimately power the campus.
What regulatory filings reveal
Regulatory filings indicate that in December Georgia Power received PSC approval to add 9,885 megawatts (about 9.885 GW) of generation capacity. The utility told the PSC it expects to have that capacity contracted by the end of 2026; the OpenAI agreement accounts for roughly one‑third of that total.
Documents filed by Georgia Power show most of the additional capacity will come from natural gas: the utility plans to build or procure about 5.8 GW of natural gas generating capacity, approximately one quarter of which will be from higher‑emission simple‑cycle turbines. Overall, the new fossil fuel capacity would more than double Georgia Power’s natural gas fleet. The remainder of the added capacity is expected to come from grid‑scale batteries and solar.
When will computing start?
Although Georgia Power’s energy deliveries are anticipated to begin in 2028, OpenAI has not specified when it will power on the first GPUs at the site. The company recently hired Brett Mayo to lead data center construction; Mayo previously worked at xAI, where he oversaw the Colossus data center in Memphis.
Environmental and regulatory concerns
The rapid construction of xAI’s Colossus facility was followed by legal action: the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit alleging the xAI data center operated dozens of unpermitted natural gas turbines while claiming an exemption from federal clean air regulations. Those disputes highlight that powering large AI facilities raises not only technical and economic issues but also environmental and legal questions.
Summary
OpenAI’s plan to spend $750 billion through 2030 and to start with a $20 billion, 1,400‑acre, 3.2 GW campus in Georgia is a significant development for regional power systems and for the economics of large AI deployments. While the headline numbers are clear, details about the precise mix of generation and the project’s long‑term environmental impacts remain unresolved.
