OpenAI announced Project Camellia on July 22, 2026, a four building AI data center campus on about 101 acres within the 2,600 acre Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub just outside Rincon, representing at least 20 billion dollars in investment, with Georgia Power supplying up to 3.2 gigawatts of power in phases between 2028 and 2032. Effingham County approved a 50 percent property tax abatement for 15 years and an 80 million dollar community benefits fund, but three residents sued the county in superior court on September 2, 2026, alleging the zoning ordinance that enabled the project was adopted without the legally required public hearings and citing an undisclosed non-disclosure agreement between the county manager and OpenAI. The lawsuit seeks to void the ordinance; the project's approved status has not changed pending the outcome.
Data centers in Effingham County
We track 2 projects inside Effingham County and 0 more within 25 miles of it. For a distance-specific answer, check your own address.
In Effingham County
OpenAI announced a 20 billion dollar, roughly 3.2 gigawatt data center campus called Project Camellia at the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub near Rincon in Effingham County, planned across about 1,400 acres of the larger 2,600 acre hub. Georgia Public Service Commission staff approved the underlying Georgia Power supply contract on August 27, 2026, and the site is already zoned industrial so no rezoning vote is required. Three residents sued September 2, 2026 challenging the zoning ordinance that permits the project, and a second lawsuit followed September 21-22, 2026 in Effingham County Superior Court, filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the nonprofit One Hundred Miles and five residents against the county Industrial Development Authority and OpenAI affiliate Octans GA, alleging Open Meetings and Open Records Act violations and seeking to void the tax abatement and land sale agreements. Neither lawsuit has produced a stay or injunction, and the project's approved status has not changed.
Power bills in Effingham County
Most of the county is served by Georgia Power, with parts on Excelsior EMC or Planters EMC or Canoochee EMC.
Base rate freeze through 2028 (docket 44280) holds base rates flat from July 2025. Fuel and storm riders are separate and can still move. Real-time pricing revenue credit and cost allocation review (docket 57171) is pending before the commission without a published residential figure yet. 2026 fuel and storm cost settlement (docket 44280, 56765) takes about $4.04 a month off a typical bill from June 2026.
Georgia Power and the Georgia PSC Public Interest Advocacy Staff reached a stipulated agreement extending the alternate rate plan first approved in the 2022 rate case, keeping Georgia Power base electricity rates flat through at least 2028. The Georgia Public Service Commission approved the stipulation by vote on July 1, 2025, with a formal order issued July 31, 2025. The freeze applies only to base rates and does not limit separate fuel cost recovery or storm cost recovery charges, both of which can still change a residential bill during the freeze period. Georgia Power has said growth in large load customers such as data centers helped make the freeze possible by spreading fixed costs across a larger customer base.
Every Georgia rate case in dollars a month, with hearing dates: willmybillgoup.com, our rate case tracker.
Alerts for Effingham County
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