Dermal Filler in Barnwell, SC

Barnwell County man charged with 4 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor

Share

Add as a preferred source on Google

AMPLIFIED: New reporter, anchor Athena Jreij joins the ‘FOX5 Amplified’ podcast

Updated: 45 minutes ago

|

New FOX5 reporter Athena Jreij joins host Tom Durian on the latest episode of the FOX5 Amplified podcast.

County approves new animal shelter in Las Vegas

Updated: 1 hour ago

|

Located near Post and Jones, the future center could feature up to 192 animal spaces and a drive-up pet food pantry.

Clark County seeks 200 more foster parents amid rising need

Updated: 1 hour ago

|

Clark County Family Services is urgently recruiting 200 foster parents as nearly 4,000 children remain in foster care.

New financing program helps Nevada homeowners go solar without upfront costs

Updated: 1 hour ago

|

Nevada homeowners can lower energy bills without upfront solar costs through the newly launched Nevada Bright Program.

Las Vegas City Council delays discussion on Clark County islands interlocal agreement

Updated: 1 hour ago

|

FOX5 reports on the debate between Las Vegas and Clark County over shared services, zoning, and annexation concerns in northwest valley islands.

UNLV Football's Dan Mullen speaks about team at 1-2

Updated: 1 hour ago

|

UNLV's Dan Mullen says the team has to get a better flow offensively.

Home

News

First Alert Weather

Sports

Event Calendar

See It, Snap It, Send It

About Us

Meet the Team

Public Inspection File

PUBLICFILE@WECT.COM (910) 791-8070

Terms of Service

Privacy Policy

EEO Report

Advertising

Digital Marketing

Closed Captioning/Audio Description

Click here to learn more about our approach to artificial intelligence.

A Gray Local Media Station © 2002-2026

Two data centers are coming to areas near Beaufort County.

One data center is planned for the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub in Effingham County, Georgia, and the other at the Savannah River Site in Barnwell County, South Carolina. Both facilities will power Artificial Intelligence technology, and there are 20 built or planned datacenters in South Carolina. None are located in Beaufort County.

Data centers have over increased power costs, high water consumption and noise pollution. Here’s what we know about the two projects:

Project Camellia

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, will build the data center planned for Effingham County, nicknamed “Project Camellia,” according to a Tuesday. ChatGPT processes more than two billion queries per day, according to OpenAI.

The project is “long-term,” and once completed, needs 3.2 gigawatts of power, according to the press release. 3.2 gigawatts translates to 3,200 megawatts of power. For reference, the natural gas plant proposed by Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper in Canadys, South Carolina will produce 2,200 megawatts, which they said can power one million homes and businesses. Georgia Power Company will supply the 3.2 gigawatts in phases between 2028 and 2032, according to the press release.

OpenAI states that the project will not raise power costs for residents, use minimal water and benefit the local community. An independent firm will audit the project each year and release the results to the public, according to the press release.

Savannah River Site

The U.S. Department of Energy chose four federal sites for data center development, including the Savannah River Site in Barnwell County, a 310 square-mile complex used to manufacture materials for nuclear weapons. The National Nuclear Security Administration selected private engineering company Amentum to and on-site energy to power it.

The data center will require one gigawatt of power, and the on-site energy will produce two gigawatts. The power will be generated from natural gas, and then later use nuclear power, according to a press release from NNSA. How the change will occur is not explained in the press release.

The project is consistent with the federal Ratepayer Protection Pledge, and will not shift power costs onto the public, according to the press release. The NNSA has not released a timeline for the project, nor which company or companies will make use of the data center.

Could a data center be built here?

Nine South Carolina counties have passed or proposed on data center development, and two have implemented regulations. Beaufort County is not one of the eleven counties. There are no announced plans to build a data center in Beaufort County.

BARNWELL COUNTY — Steven Brown remembers growing up in the rural small town of Williston and being told he couldn’t be an engineer. In 2009, he went to Afghanistan on his first job: helping rebuild the country’s energy infrastructure as an electrical engineer.

It was that 12-month experience of training Afghan locals and helping them rebuild that later motivated him to come back to his hometown to inspire children into science, technology, engineering, mathematics or medical careers. In 2013, he founded the nonprofit Dreams, Imagination and Gift Development Program, DIG DP.

“We believe big dreams come from small places,” he said, repeating the motto of a nonprofit he founded to help children who were like him.

The enrichment and mentorship program is now in its 12th year and striving for a permanent home in a proposed DIG Stem Center. The nonprofit has raised about $260,000 since launching its fundraising campaign earlier this fall. Brown said the DIG Stem Center’s campaign goal is $1.2 million. The nonprofit has steadily grown through the years to host summer camps and a local STEM festival that features competitions and hands-on STEM opportunities.

Today, Brown’s group provides afterschool programming and long-term mentoring to more than 350 children annually who come from schools in Aiken, Barnwell and Allendale counties. Many of these children come from areas and backgrounds similar to Brown’s, impoverished and lacking in opportunity, he said.

An arm of the Federal Reserve previously included Brown in a 12-week training program on how to create project proposals and secure funding for rural communities like Williston.

At its core, DIG is about building access to STEM jobs in an area of South Carolina with the highest rates of poverty, Brown said. About 28.5 percent of Barnwell County residents fall below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 14 percent of South Carolinians live beneath the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

To date, about 14 students have gone on to become engineers or are pursuing engineering degrees, a fact Brown, who grew up in a double-wide trailer, is especially proud of. Why settle for less in a career because of where you come from, he asked.

Trayan Parker, 25, is one of them. Parker was among the first to join DIG when it was finding its footing. He initially wanted to be a welder. He watched Brown give a presentation in school one day that enraptured him. The mentoring network has been the most important piece that has shaped his life, he said.

DIG has been a part of his life for more than a decade and continues to be a part of it. He works as an industrial engineer at Michelin in Lexington after working for Norfolk Southern and attending the University of South Carolina.

The proposed center would include a tech lab, a gathering space for mentors and mentees, athletics facilities and class space. The nonprofit has relied on community support over the last decade in using meeting spaces, such as churches. The existing afterschool programs would remain in place, but give children a gathering space and a place for hands-on experience.

“I feel like having our own space is going to provide consistency, hosting competitions, bring the community together and give people a third place people can look forward to going to,” Brown said.

For 18-year-old Madison Wright, DIG showed her that the sky’s the limit because of opportunities to participate in regional and national engineering competitions, such as Future Cities.

“The mentors helped build our confidence to be able to compete with anyone else,” she said.

She’s studying nuclear engineering at Charleston Southern University and wouldn’t be there without Brown’s program.