Meta · U.S. · TechCrunch AI
Meta inks agreement for solar power at night, beamed from space
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The race to secure electricity for AI models has reached new heights: 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 centers at night.
Key facts
- In 2024, Meta’s data centers used more than 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity, roughly enough to power more than 1.7 million American homes for a year, and its need for compute power is only
- Berte expects to begin launching the satellites that would fulfill that commitment in 2030, with a goal of flying 1,000 spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit, a high orbit in which each satellite
- Once in space, Berte says the fleet of spacecraft will be able to cover about a third of the planet, with an initial deployment that will reach from the West Coast of the United States
- Overview says it has already demonstrated power transmission to the ground from an aircraft, and is planning to launch a satellite to low Earth orbit in January 2028 to perform its first power
Summary
In 2024, Meta’s data centers used more than 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity, roughly enough to power more than 1.7 million American homes for a year, and its need for compute power is only increasing. Typically, data centers turning to solar power must either invest in battery storage or rely on other generation sources to operate at night. Overview Energy, a four-year-old, Ashburn, Virginia, outfit that emerged from stealth in December, has a different solution: The company is developing spacecraft that collect plentiful solar power in space.