Georgia Power approved to supply 3.2-GW OpenAI data center

The Georgia Public Service Commission has approved a contract between Georgia Power and OpenAI to provide electricity for a 3.2-gigawatt hyperscale data center in Effingham County. The project is expected to create significant demand, equivalent to the energy usage of more than 2 million homes.

Under the agreement, OpenAI will cover the full cost of the infrastructure required to serve the facility and has committed up to 1,000 MW of flexible demand response. This flexibility allows Georgia Power to reduce energy delivery during peak demand periods, potentially reducing the need for new generation resources. Georgia Power projects that revenue from large-load customers like this will result in savings for typical residential customers, estimating a benefit of approximately $950 million per year.

To protect residential and business ratepayers, the contract includes safeguards such as a prohibition on Georgia Power recovering lost revenues from non-large load customers. Additionally, the utility has agreed to increased transparency, including providing a public summary of the contract and filing semiannual reports regarding the performance and operations of its large-load data center customers.