OpenAI announced Monday that it will pilot its Grid Protectors Program at an upcoming data center in Effingham County, Georgia, with the company promising to free up to 1,000 megawatts of power during extreme weather or emergencies. OpenAI says that amount would be enough to power air conditioners in around 700,000 homes.
The program is being pitched as a way for the power plants that feed OpenAI's AI data centers to serve as a resource utilities can draw on when communities need it most. OpenAI says it will continue working with policymakers and utility services on arrangements for its future campus to reduce electricity demand when the grid is under strain.
The announcement comes as opposition to data centers spreads across the US, driven by massive projects that have begun development and construction, frequently with little or no input from local residents. In Utah, residents protested after Box Elder County commissioners signed off on a data center expected to consume more than double the state's peak electricity demand in 2025 and to spread hot air in the desert valley surrounding it.
Several states, including Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma and Oregon, have enacted laws aimed at preventing AI companies from passing energy costs on to residents, along with moratoriums and other restrictions. A recent study by the Houston Advanced Research Center said that powering proposed Texas data center projects could undo decades of air quality gains over just five years.
OpenAI has switched to calling its AI data centers "compute campuses" in an effort to separate them from their poor public reputation. The company claims its approach helps reduce costs for customers by operating year-round, saying electricity demand rises and falls with the seasons and different regions face their biggest peaks at different times, while its compute campuses need power year-round. According to OpenAI, steady demand under the right agreements can help spread the grid's fixed costs across more electricity sales, while flexibility lets it reduce demand when the system is busiest.
Beyond the Georgia data center, OpenAI is partnering with Oracle and SoftBank to build its Stargate data centers across the US, including in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and Milam County, Texas.
More AI news from TechManNews.
