OpenAI isn’t just building a giant data center in Georgia. It’s trying to prove, before the protests start, that AI infrastructure can land in a community without blowing up power bills, draining water supplies, or turning local politics toxic.

That is the real story behind Project Camellia, OpenAI’s planned $20 billion campus in Effingham County near Savannah. The scale is enormous: 1,400 acres and 3.2 gigawatts of power delivered in phases from 2028 to 2032.¹ But the company’s pitch is just as notable as the footprint. OpenAI says “Georgia families will not subsidize this project” and that it will “pay the full cost of the infrastructure and electric-service costs required to serve it.”² It also says the site will use closed-loop cooling with minimal water use and cut power demand during grid stress before residents are affected.¹

Local officials are echoing that argument. Effingham County Commissioner Jamie DeLoach said county leaders “asked the tough questions” and concluded the project “uses minimal water, won't increase energy costs for county residents, will generate new tax revenue to support our schools, and create new opportunities for local businesses.”² OpenAI has also promised $80 million for local priorities, hundreds of millions in taxes, and AI coding credits for Georgia students.¹

Still, the skepticism is bigger than one county. Business Insider framed the proposal as proof OpenAI knows “data centers are unpopular.”² TechCrunch pushed the harder question: not whether the campus will get built, but what will actually power it. Georgia Power has not detailed the precise energy mix for Camellia, but regulatory filings suggest much of the utility’s added capacity will come from natural gas, with the rest from batteries and solar.³ That turns OpenAI’s local affordability case into a broader climate argument.

The subtext is unmistakable on X, too. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas endorsed the infrastructure obsession with a one-word post — “True” — amplifying the line that “owning a datacenter is the new American Dream.”Aravind Srinivas (AravSrinivas)⁴ It was a joke, but also a tell: in the AI race, concrete, steel, and megawatts are becoming the real product.