OpenAI has structured Project Camellia, a proposed 3.2GW AI data centre campus in Effingham County, Georgia, around a set of commitments on electricity supply, water use and grid stability.
The campus is designed to receive power in phases between 2028 and 2032 and the arrangement with local utility Georgia Power could offer a model for how large AI infrastructure connects to the grid without shifting costs onto households.
The scale of the project places energy planning at the centre of its design. According to OpenAI, the campus is expected to support next-generation AI computing while creating thousands of construction and permanent jobs in southeast Georgia.
The 3.2GW of electricity required by Project Camellia raises the question of who bears the infrastructure cost. OpenAI says Georgia households will not shoulder that burden.
Under Georgia Public Service Commission rules, the company will pay the full infrastructure and electrical service costs needed to connect the campus. This could prevent those costs from being passed on to existing customers.
