Meta is looking to space for more power as artificial intelligence drives demand for electricity.
“We’re always looking at new and innovative ways to provide reliable energy to our data centers and add new generation to the grid,” a Meta spokesperson told Decrypt. “Space-based solar is early-stage but it’s promising and it can deliver continuous, carbon-free power and direct it where it’s needed in real time.”
Overview Energy plans to collect constant sunlight from geosynchronous orbit and beam it to solar facilities on Earth to generate electricity around the clock, after successfully demonstrating the core technology last year by transmitting power from a moving plane to a ground receiver.
“Our deal is structured around milestones: We have preferential access to up to 1GW of future capacity once those technology milestones are met,” the spokesperson said.
Meta also announced a deal with Noon Energy for more than 100 hours of energy storage. The companies plan an initial 25-megawatt, 2.5-gigawatt-hour pilot project in 2028 before scaling toward the full 1 GW/100 GWh target.
Meta said it has backed more than 30 gigawatts of new energy across 28 states, including wind, solar, nuclear, and geothermal projects.
“This partnership with Overview Energy is about backing a technology that could deliver reliable power from orbit and boost the output of solar facilities on Earth,” Meta’s spokesperson said. “We're giving it the project certainty it needs to develop.”
