Meta bets big on space solar power as it plans to beam energy from orbit to keep data centers running nonstop
- Meta bets on space solar energy with Overview Energy for continuous power supply of data centers
- Noon Energy joins Meta’s efforts for very long-duration on-grid storage systems
- Meta and Overview Energy aim to launch Orbital Energy Demonstration by 2028
Meta announced a partnership with Overview Energy to bring space-based solar power to its data centers, enabling solar farms to generate electricity 24 hours a day.
Today’s solar installations only produce electricity when the sun is shining, leaving them unused for much of the day.
Energy’s satellites are in a geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth, where sunlight is constant. These satellites collect energy in space and transmit it to solar installations on Earth in the form of low-intensity near-infrared light.
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How Ground-Based Space Solar Power Really Works
“The potential to make existing infrastructure produce more output is what makes space solar worth investing in now to help move this technology from concept to grid,” Meta said in a blog post.
Existing solar farms will receive radiated energy and convert it into electricity in the same way they handle direct sunlight.
This means that facilities that currently sit idle at night can continue to produce electricity around the clock without requiring additional land or network infrastructure.
Because the technology builds on existing solar infrastructure rather than requiring new installations, it can be commissioned more quickly on a large scale than traditional builds.
Meta has secured a capacity reservation of up to 1 GW of this orbit-to-grid energy to support its data center operations.
Overview’s orbital demonstration is planned for 2028, marking the first time the system will transmit power wirelessly from space to a solar farm on Earth.
In addition to space solar systems, Meta is also investing in long-duration storage, because the grid needs storage capable of transporting clean energy over long periods of time.
Meta has partnered with Noon Energy to deploy ultra-long duration energy storage using modular, reversible solid oxide fuel cells and carbon-based storage.
This technology provides over 100 hours of energy storage, far beyond what current lithium-ion batteries can offer.
Early technology, high stakes
Meta has contracted over 30 GW of clean, renewable energy to date, representing billions in capital investment.
The company is also one of the largest buyers of nuclear power in American history, supporting 7.7 GW from multiple suppliers.
These solar and storage technologies are early, and that’s exactly why Meta is supporting them now rather than waiting for them to mature.
If Overview’s orbital demonstration is successful, commercial delivery to the US grid could begin as early as 2030.
However, the transfer of energy from space to Earth on a commercial scale has never been achieved before, and the efficiency of this transmission remains to be proven.
The infrastructure needed to receive and convert the energy radiated by hundreds of solar parks does not yet exist.
Noon Energy’s carbon-based storage technology also faces questions regarding life cycle, degradation and manufacturing scale.
This means Meta is banking heavily on unproven technologies because the results, if successful, would be transformative.
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