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OpenAI pitches data center power plants as a way to protect nearby areas
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As public opinion has soured on data centers, it’s selling ‘AI campuses’ as protectors, instead of noisy polluters.
As public opinion has soured on data centers, it’s selling ‘AI campuses’ as protectors, instead of noisy polluters.
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In an announcement on Monday, OpenAI says it will pilot its “Grid Protectors Program” at an upcoming data center in Effingham County, Georgia, where the company promises to free up to 1,000 megawatts of power during extreme weather or emergencies, enough to power air conditioners in around 700,000 homes.
The announcement comes as opposition to data centers spreads across the US, in response to 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 spread hot air in the desert valley surrounding the data center.
Now OpenAI’s approach is to pitch the construction of power plants that feed the electricity required by the new AI data centers it’s building as “a resource that utilities can call on when communities need it most.”