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ATLANTA — After a tumultuous and secretive process, the Georgia Public Service Commission staff approved the contract between Georgia Power and OpenAI to power a 3.2 gigawatt hyperscale data center planned for Effingham County — without a direct vote from the commission itself.
In response, Sierra Club and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy released the following statements:
“Thanks to the public outcry against Georgia Power’s secrecy, the Public Service Commission took the first steps to bring the OpenAI development out of the dark. While this agreement is a step toward protecting ratepayers and increasing transparency, it is not enough. The Commissioners at the PSC must be empowered to weigh-in on future contract decisions,” said Hannah Baker, Organizer with Sierra Club’s Georgia Chapter. “The people of Georgia are angry at what they see as a reckless rush to build A.I. data centers with no regard to the communities they impact. We cannot allow more backroom deals that benefit Georgia Power’s profit-driven loyalty to data centers to steamroll public accountability.”
