Georgia may have promised more power to data centers than it can provide

With the amount of data centers rising across the state of Georgia, the question surrounding energy consumption has continued to surface.

Georgia Power received approval last year for a historic expansion of power capacity to accommodate for the increase in large-load customers, and at the time, advocacy groups questioned the utility company’s predictions surrounding how many data center projects will come to fruition in the state.

However, a Georgia nonprofit now says the state may have promised more power to data centers than it has to offer.

Science for Georgia Executive Director Amy Sharma told GPB News that the state has 81 proposed data center projects, which would need between 29-58 gigawatts of power. For reference, the Hoover Dam produces about two gigawatts of power.

The Georgia Public Service Commission staff is currently reviewing a contract between Open AI and Georgia Power for a data center in Effingham County. Georgia Power CEO Chris Womack told company shareholders that once that agreement is reached, Georgia Power will have promised one gigawatt more electrical capacity than it has permission to provide, according to GPB News.

Sharma said that’s not wrong, but several more data centers have been proposed in the state.

“The problem is there are 81 proposed data centers. Of that, we could find 57 that had listed their square feet, which is the other way that you can use to estimate power. So that’s over twice as many as the ones that have listed their proposed power. And of those, you have to use some math and figure out how to do it. And so that’s where we get the number of 29 gigawatts to 58 gigawatts; it’s based on the square footage of the facility,” she told GPB News.

The Current reports that the Effingham County deal brokered by Georgia Power with Open AI and the county’s development authority happened largely out of public view, and many of the 75,000 citizens of the county still have concerns about the $20 billion project.

County leaders argue that the deal will allow the county to eliminate residential property taxes and improve services.

Although the PSC is required to review large-load data center contract, it does not have approval authority and operates under the assumption that Georgia Power will resolve any objections to the contract in good faith.

Sharma said a lot surrounding data center proposals is still unknown.

“So this just points out the startling lack of transparency around all of these developments anyways, right? So if you think about it, 25 of them have declared their proposed power needs. We only know 57 actual square footage. There’s another 25 some-odd that we don’t know anything about and we can’t even estimate how much power because we don’t even know how, like, large of a facility they’re going to be,” she said.

Some communities have had success deterring data center development.

In Lovejoy, developers have withdrawn their proposed plans of a 403-acre data center campus after residents voiced concerns.

Mayor Marci Fluellyn told WABE that residents were overwhelmingly against the data center.

“It was very clear from the public outcry…that the residents were not interested. They did not want that development here and for the very reason that we shared with them. We are a residential city. The location that they chose was a residential location, and it just was not the fit that they wanted,” Fluellyn said.

The city plans to revise its zoning policies to exclude data centers.