Meta partners with Overview Energy to beam solar from space
Meta just announced a partnership with Overview Energy to get solar energy even after the sun goes down.
The plan? Satellites in space will collect sunlight, turn it into infrared light, and beam it down to solar farms on Earth.
This helps Meta keep its data centers running (they used more than 18,000 gigawatt-hours in 2024) without relying so much on batteries or fossil fuels.
Overview Energy targets 1st launch 2028
Overview Energy is aiming to launch a satellite by January 2028, and expects to begin launching the fleet in 2030, with a goal of eventually flying 1,000 spacecraft.
Instead of risky lasers or microwaves, they plan to use safer near-infrared beams for energy transfer.
Meta's already locked in up to 1 gigawatt of this future power source. If all goes well, this could mean cleaner energy around the clock, not just for Meta, but as a new way forward for renewable power everywhere.