By now, most people around Savannah and Effingham County have heard that OpenAI is planning a major data center near Rincon. The announcement drew immediate attention, along with plenty of questions about what a project this large would actually mean for the area.
Known as Project Camellia, the privately funded campus is planned for an industrial site within the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub. The project represents a proposed investment of at least $20 billion and would include several enormous buildings filled with computers used to train and operate artificial intelligence systems. In simple terms, this is the physical infrastructure behind tools such as ChatGPT. Rather than offices filled primarily with employees, a data center contains servers, cooling equipment, electrical systems, security, and the technology needed to keep those computers running around the clock.
The scale is difficult to picture. OpenAI plans to contract with Georgia Power for as much as 3.2 gigawatts of electricity, delivered in phases between 2028 and 2032. The company says it will cover the infrastructure and electric service costs associated with the project rather than passing those expenses to existing customers. It also says the campus will use a closed loop cooling system that repeatedly circulates the same water, keeping ongoing water use much lower than many traditional data centers. Those are company commitments that would be monitored through a proposed annual independent audit.
For Effingham County, the clearest potential benefit is money. County leaders expect OpenAI to become the largest taxpayer in county history, even after receiving a long term property tax incentive. Officials say the project will create at least 400 permanent jobs, along with substantial construction work while the campus is being built. OpenAI has also committed $80 million toward local priorities such as schools, workforce training, public safety, health care, utilities, housing, and small businesses.
The project has also faced significant criticism. Many residents say the announcement came with little opportunity for public input, and records show county leaders negotiated under confidentiality agreements before finalizing an incentive package one day before the project became public. Other concerns include noise, light pollution, energy demand, environmental effects, and whether the promised benefits will outweigh the tax breaks and changes brought by a development of this size.
Project Camellia is not expected to appear overnight. OpenAI describes it as a long term project that will be built in stages, with major work still remaining around infrastructure, design, financing, and operations. Because the property was already zoned for industrial use, county officials say their authority is largely focused on whether future plans meet local rules and engineering standards rather than whether a data center is allowed there at all.
For now, the project is best understood as a massive new piece of industrial infrastructure that could reshape Effingham County’s tax base and role in the regional economy. It also brings legitimate questions that residents will continue asking as the details move from promises on paper to actual construction.
