The burgeoning pressure from the growing demand for computing power and electricity for AI models has reached a new level. Witnessing this, Meta has signed an agreement with the startup Overview Energy that could see a thousand satellites beam infrared light to solar farms that power data centres at night.
In 2024, Meta’s data centres used more than 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity, roughly enough to power more than 1.7 million American homes for a year. Meta has committed to building 30 gigawatts of renewable capacity, focusing on industrial-scale solar plants.
Overview Energy believes that by using infrared beams to power existing terrestrial solar infrastructure, it can overcome the challenges posed by transmitting power to Earth via high-power lasers or microwave beams. The CEO has pledged that these rays will be docile and will have no ill effects, even when you come into direct contact with them.
Meta’s Deal With Overview Energy
Today, Meta has signed the first capacity reservation agreement with Overview to receive up to 1 gigawatt of power from the company’s spacecraft. Since these new prospects require a new quantifier, Overview has developed a metric called the megawatt protons, which is the amount of light required to generate one megawatt of electricity.
The satellites that will fulfill these responsibilities are expected to be launched in 2030. The overall goal of the company is to fly 1,000 spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit, a high orbit where satellites can remain fixed over a single location on Earth. The brand expects each spacecraft to provide power from space for more than 10 years.
Once in space, Overview says the spacecraft will be able to cover about a third of the planet. Initial deployment will reach from the West Coast of the United States to Western Europe. Since solar farms enter evening and night cycles, Overview’s spacecraft will be able to generate additional light from space. Overall, the ability to generate and transmit power, and the flexibility to deliver it to solar farms wherever and whenever needed, is of paramount importance.
