{"id":3489544,"date":"2026-04-27T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/meta-secures-agreement-for-nighttime-solar-energy-transmitted-from-space\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:00:00","slug":"meta-secures-agreement-for-nighttime-solar-energy-transmitted-from-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/meta-secures-agreement-for-nighttime-solar-energy-transmitted-from-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta secures agreement for nighttime solar energy transmitted from space"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
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The competition to secure energy for AI models has escalated: Meta has finalized a deal with the startup Overview Energy, which could enable a thousand satellites to transmit infrared light to solar farms that supply electricity to data centers during nighttime.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Meta\u2019s data facilities consumed over 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity \u2014 approximately equivalent to powering more than 1.7 million American households for a year \u2014 and its demand for computational resources is continually rising. The firm has pledged to establish 30 gigawatts of renewable energy resources, concentrating on large-scale solar power plants.<\/p>\n

Usually, data centers looking to utilize solar energy must either invest in battery systems or depend on alternative generation methods to operate after dark.<\/p>\n

Overview, a startup based in Ashburn, Virginia, which emerged from stealth mode in December, has a distinct approach: The business is creating satellites that harvest abundant solar power in outer space. They aim to transform that energy into near-infrared light and direct it at sufficiently large solar farms \u2014 on the scale of hundreds of megawatts \u2014 which can convert that light into electricity.<\/p>\n

By employing a broad infrared beam to energize existing terrestrial solar setups, Overview believes it can bypass the technical hurdles and safety and regulatory problems that complicate initiatives for transmitting energy to Earth via high-powered lasers or microwave beams. CEO Marc Berte asserts that one can look directly into his satellite\u2019s beam without any harmful effects.<\/p>\n

This technology could enhance the return on investment for establishing solar farms and diminish dependence on fossil fuels \u2014 assuming it can be implemented on a large scale.<\/p>\n

Overview claims it has already proven power transmission to the ground from an aircraft and intends to launch a satellite into low Earth orbit in January 2028 to conduct its inaugural power transmission from space.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the latest announcement, Meta disclosed it has entered into the initial capacity reservation agreement with Overview to obtain up to 1 gigawatt of power from the company\u2019s satellites, although it’s uncertain if any funds were exchanged. Overview has established a new metric for this agreement, megawatt photons, which quantifies the amount of light necessary to generate a megawatt of electricity.<\/p>\n

Berte anticipates commencing the launch of the satellites that will meet this commitment in 2030, aiming to deploy 1,000 satellites in geosynchronous orbit, a high orbit allowing each satellite to remain stationary over the same location on Earth. He expects each of the company’s satellites to deliver power from space for over 10 years.<\/p>\n

Once positioned in space, Berte states that the fleet of satellites will cover roughly one-third of the globe, with an initial deployment spanning from the West Coast of the United States to Western Europe. As the Earth rotates and customer solar farms transition into the evening and nighttime, Overview\u2019s satellites are expected to enhance their electrical output with supplementary light from space.<\/p>\n

Berte sees potential in merging both generation and transmission, providing the capability to supply energy to solar farms whenever and wherever it holds the most value.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a substantial distinction between participating in any single energy market and being active in all energy markets,\u201d Berte shared with TechCrunch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/div>\n
\n

The competition to secure energy for AI models has escalated: Meta has finalized a deal with the startup Overview Energy, which could enable a thousand satellites to transmit infrared light to solar farms that supply electricity to data centers during nighttime.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Meta\u2019s data facilities consumed over 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity \u2014 approximately equivalent to powering more than 1.7 million American households for a year \u2014 and its demand for computational resources is continually rising. The firm has pledged to establish 30 gigawatts of renewable energy resources, concentrating on large-scale solar power plants.<\/p>\n

Usually, data centers looking to utilize solar energy must either invest in battery systems or depend on alternative generation methods to operate after dark.<\/p>\n

Overview, a startup based in Ashburn, Virginia, which emerged from stealth mode in December, has a distinct approach: The business is creating satellites that harvest abundant solar power in outer space. They aim to transform that energy into near-infrared light and direct it at sufficiently large solar farms \u2014 on the scale of hundreds of megawatts \u2014 which can convert that light into electricity.<\/p>\n

By employing a broad infrared beam to energize existing terrestrial solar setups, Overview believes it can bypass the technical hurdles and safety and regulatory problems that complicate initiatives for transmitting energy to Earth via high-powered lasers or microwave beams. CEO Marc Berte asserts that one can look directly into his satellite\u2019s beam without any harmful effects.<\/p>\n

This technology could enhance the return on investment for establishing solar farms and diminish dependence on fossil fuels \u2014 assuming it can be implemented on a large scale.<\/p>\n

Overview claims it has already proven power transmission to the ground from an aircraft and intends to launch a satellite into low Earth orbit in January 2028 to conduct its inaugural power transmission from space.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In the latest announcement, Meta disclosed it has entered into the initial capacity reservation agreement with Overview to obtain up to 1 gigawatt of power from the company\u2019s satellites, although it’s uncertain if any funds were exchanged. Overview has established a new metric for this agreement, megawatt photons, which quantifies the amount of light necessary to generate a megawatt of electricity.<\/p>\n

Berte anticipates commencing the launch of the satellites that will meet this commitment in 2030, aiming to deploy 1,000 satellites in geosynchronous orbit, a high orbit allowing each satellite to remain stationary over the same location on Earth. He expects each of the company’s satellites to deliver power from space for over 10 years.<\/p>\n

Once positioned in space, Berte states that the fleet of satellites will cover roughly one-third of the globe, with an initial deployment spanning from the West Coast of the United States to Western Europe. As the Earth rotates and customer solar farms transition into the evening and nighttime, Overview\u2019s satellites are expected to enhance their electrical output with supplementary light from space.<\/p>\n

Berte sees potential in merging both generation and transmission, providing the capability to supply energy to solar farms whenever and wherever it holds the most value.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a substantial distinction between participating in any single energy market and being active in all energy markets,\u201d Berte shared with TechCrunch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3489545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3489544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3489544"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3489544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3489544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3489545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3489544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3489544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3489544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}