Georgia Power buys more time on the OpenAI deal
The OpenAI data center power fight drags on, city gyms close for work, and Netflix comes casting.
Georgia Power received more time for regulators to consider its OpenAI contract.
Georgia Power secured an extension on the deadline for state regulators to consider its contract with OpenAI. The contract covers the $20 billion data center planned for the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub in Effingham County. That is close enough to be our problem, not Atlanta's. A project that size needs an enormous amount of electricity, and the Public Service Commission is the body that decides the terms. An extension is not an approval. It means the negotiation is still open, and the shape of that deal is the thing to watch. The move shifted the staff review deadline from Aug. 14 to Aug. 26, giving the utility 12 more days to provide information. Commission staff said they were prepared to object unless Georgia Power agreed to changes. The contract terms released publicly were fully redacted as trade secrets. Georgia Power plans to deliver 3.2 gigawatts to the campus in phases from 2028 through 2032.
Savannah's indoor football team shows its face
Savannah's expected Indoor Football League team is starting to look real. New branding and a hype video landed this week, ahead of what WJCL describes as an anticipated league announcement. The team is expected to begin play in 2027. Nothing is official yet, and the league has not made the call. But teams do not commission logos and hype videos for fun. If it holds, Savannah gets a winter sport with a season that runs when nothing else does. Expect the logo discourse to start immediately.
Netflix is casting 'Love is Blind' here
The reality show is coming back to Georgia, and this time it wants Savannah. Netflix first filmed the series in Atlanta in 2020, WSAV reports. For its second Georgia season, casting is expanding beyond Atlanta into our city. Whatever you think of the format, the practical effect is real. Casting calls bring producers, crews and a lot of people telling their friends about it. Somebody you know is going to apply. Somebody you know is going to swear they are only doing it as a joke.
The Steel climbed out of a 26-point hole and still lost
Savannah Steel fell 72-68 to the Greensboro Groove after trailing by 26 points. The score alone misses the second-half comeback that turned a blowout into a four-point game. The loss dropped the Steel to 7-22 on the season, but the rally showed the roster can change a game after halftime. Erasing that much of a deficit and still coming up four short is a specific kind of heartbreak.
Four community center gyms are closed for work
The City has started gymnasium renovations at Liberty City, W.W. Law, Tompkins and J.S. Delaware community centers. Only the gyms are closed during construction; the centers remain open for other activities. Each project includes repainting plus new bleachers, scoreboards and basketball goals, with the work expected over the next few weeks. If one of those gyms is where your kid plays or where you run pickup, check the center’s current schedule before heading over.
Plant McIntosh could add two gas-and-oil units
Georgia environmental regulators are reviewing a draft air permit for up to two new combined-cycle units at Plant McIntosh on the Savannah River in Effingham County. The units would burn gas and oil as Georgia Power expands generation for statewide data-center demand, including OpenAI’s $20 billion Project Camellia. That project alone is expected to require 3.2 gigawatts of electricity. If finalized, the permit would set operating limits plus monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting requirements for the new units.