OpenAI launches Grid Protectors: future compute campuses will cut their power use when the grid is strained
Under OpenAI's Grid Protectors Program, future compute campuses will cut their power use by agreement when the grid is strained. The first pilot is the Effingham campus in Georgia, whose agreement with the local utility includes up to 1,000 MW of flexible demand response. The campus is still being developed, so this does not free up 1 GW of power today.
Why it matters
Compute cost and supply will depend more and more on the grid, which makes work that can wait, such as offline evals and batch jobs, more valuable. The announcement does not mean lower API prices for users now.
Sources1
Written by dalao.ai: the title, summary and why it matters are our own words. The original reports are the record; their publishers keep authorship.