OpenAI launched the Grid Protectors Program on November 2, committing the compute campuses it directly develops to reduce electricity use during grid emergencies and extreme weather. The company says it will work with utilities, regulators and policymakers on site-by-site arrangements setting how much demand can be cut, how quickly and for how long, and will publish further commitments as they are finalised.

The pilot is Project Camellia, OpenAI's planned 3,200-megawatt campus in Effingham County, Georgia. Under a 25-year agreement with Georgia Power, up to 1,000 megawatts — about 31% of the campus's peak load, and roughly the average electricity use of 700,000 homes — will be available for curtailment. OpenAI says it will pay the full infrastructure and electric-service costs of serving the site, with contracted power delivered in phases between 2028 and 2032.

The savings figures are the utility's projections, not results: Georgia Power projects about $950 million in annual customer savings from 2029 across its large-load portfolio including this deal, or at least $15 a month for a typical home using 1,000 kilowatt-hours. OpenAI itself concedes the limit of the idea — campus flexibility 'cannot replace investment in new energy supply and transmission' — and the campus, which drew local protests over the summer, is still in development.