US firm aims to shoot lasers from satellites to power solar farms

Overview Energy, a US startup, emerged from stealth yesterday, December 10. The company aims to harvest sunlight from Earth’s orbit using satellites. It will then use infrared lasers to beam this power to solar farms at night, enabling round-the-clock energy.

The startup is developing large solar arrays in geosynchronous orbit (GEO). Soaring at a high vantage point of roughly 22,000 miles (approx. 35,400 km) above Earth, the arrays will be able to harvest sunlight 24/7. 

In a press statement, the Overview says it has performed an airborne demonstration of its technology, beaming energy from a moving aircraft to a receiver on the ground.

Transmitting solar power via laser

The firm has raised $20 million so far, with investors including the Aurelia Institute, Earthrise Ventures, and Engine Ventures. According to a company press release, a large portion of this has gone towards achieving its two major milestones to date: validating its laser and optics system at thousands of watts in the lab, and conducting its airborne technology demonstration.

During that successful demonstration, a light aircraft transmitted power via laser to a ground receiver roughly 3 miles (5 kilometers) away.

The company, founded in 2022, now says it is aiming for a low Earth orbit demonstration in 2028, which would “prove end-to-end functionality from space”. Then, commercial operations would begin in 2030 with the “world’s first megawatt transmission from space.”

Overview has joined a race to make space-based solar power a reality. Earlier this year, Aetherflux also came out of stealth and announced it aims to develop a constellation of sunlight-harvesting satellites for low Earth orbit. This week, Aetherflux also announced it will build data centers in orbit to meet the rising energy demand of Earth-based data centers driven by artificial intelligence.  Star Catcher, meanwhile, aims to harvest sunlight in orbit to power spacecraft and satellites.

Making space-based solar power a reality

While lower space launch costs compared to a decade ago have made space-based solar power a more viable proposition, there are still key hurdles to overcome. In a 2024 report, for example, NASA identified “several significant capability gaps” that impede progress.

These include the challenge of assembling large arrays, as well as autonomous operation in GEO, which is much higher than in low Earth orbit, where the majority of satellite operations take place. 

Using existing technologies, space-based solar power is also far more expensive than Earth-based solar energy. Microwave-based approaches would have to test ground station technologies for capturing energy from space. Then there’s the potential risk of harming aircraft and wildlife with microwave or laser beams.

Still, companies are looking to overcome these hurdles with innovative technologies. Aetherflux will circumvent the challenge of operating in GEO by building an LEO constellation. While its individual satellites won’t be able to harvest sunlight 24/7, the company claims that a constellation of satellites would provide constant energy.

Overview, meanwhile, will beam its energy via lasers to existing solar farms. This would remove the need to build expensive ground-station infrastructure.