It’s no secret that data centers use a lot of energy, so the more green sources companies can tap into, the better. Solar is a great sustainable option — when the sun is shining. But even in the sunniest places, you still only get access to that power for half the time because of that pesky little thing we call nighttime.
That’s why Meta has inked a deal with Overview Energy to get solar power from satellites even in the dark. The four-year-old startup is developing satellites that collect sunlight continuously from 22,000 miles above the Earth’s surface. They then transmit that energy down to the planet in the form of low-intensity near-infrared light, from which it can be reconstituted into energy. Thus, you have a continuous supply.
Overview is planning a demonstration of its tech in January 2028 and commercial deployment isn’t expected until 2030, so it will be a while before Meta gets this power. The capacity reservation agreement, according to Meta, is for up to one gigawatt of power.
