OpenAI Floats a New Name for Data Centers Amid Georgia Site-Plan Vote
OpenAI is seeking approval for Project Camellia, a proposed $20 billion AI compute campus in Effingham County near Savannah that could require 3,200 megawatts of electricity. County commissioners were preparing to vote on the site plan as the project also faced federal wetlands permitting and broader public opposition to data center development.
OpenAI is promoting the term “compute campus” for its proposed data centers as Effingham County commissioners prepare to vote on Project Camellia, a planned $20 billion complex near Savannah. The project could include four to six data-center buildings across roughly 1,347 to 1,400 acres and become Georgia’s largest electricity user, requiring about 3,200 megawatts of power.
The company has also applied for permission to fill approximately 72 acres of wetlands, while saying its plans preserve 70% of wetlands within the site and provide more than $20 million for mitigation. OpenAI has pledged to reduce the campus’s electricity demand by up to one gigawatt during periods of grid stress. The vote comes amid growing local and national resistance to data center projects, including ballot measures and petitions targeting developments in several states.