Planet Earth is no longer enough

The race to power AI is getting more ambitious.

Meta has signed a deal with Overview Energy, a startup working on satellites that could send energy from space to solar farms on Earth.

In 2024, Meta’s data centres used more than 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity. 

That is roughly enough to power 1.7 million homes for a year. 

As AI demand grows, Meta is looking for more renewable energy and has committed to building 30 gigawatts of clean power.

The problem is simple: solar power does not work at night. 

Data centres usually need batteries or other energy sources to keep running after sunset.

Overview wants to solve this by launching satellites that collect solar energy in space. 

The satellites would turn that energy into near-infrared light and beam it down to large solar farms. 

The farms would then convert that light into electricity.

The company says this approach could avoid some of the safety and regulatory issues linked to lasers or microwave beams. 

Its CEO says the infrared beam would be safe enough to look at directly.

Overview has already tested the idea from an aircraft and plans to launch its first satellite test in 2028. 

Meta has reserved up to one gigawatt of capacity from the system, although the financial details are unclear.

By 2030, Overview hopes to launch around 1,000 satellites. 

The goal is to help solar farms keep generating power at night and reduce the need for fossil fuels.

Can’t they just build a big water wheel? - MV