Energy · AI · Space
How Meta Is Using Satellites to Power AI With Sunlight — Even at Night
A simple breakdown of the world's most ambitious clean energy deal — and why it matters for the future of artificial intelligence.
Easy readApril 27, 2026·5 min read
AI is hungry. Not for food — for electricity. Every time you use an AI app, a data center somewhere is burning through massive amounts of power. Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, used 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity in just one year. That is enough to power 1.7 million homes. And they need even more.
18K GWhMeta's electricity use in 2024
1 GWPower committed in new deal
1,000Satellites being planned
Part 1 — The Problem
Why powering AI with solar is so hard
Solar energy sounds perfect — it is clean, renewable, and free. But it has one big problem: the sun goes down at night. Data centers never sleep. So what happens when the sun sets?
Problem 01
No sun at night
Solar farms stop working after dark. But data centers need power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Problem 02
Batteries cost too much
Storing solar power in huge batteries is incredibly expensive. Not practical at Meta's scale.
Problem 03
Fossil fuels are a step back
Using gas or coal as backup defeats the whole point of going green. Bad for the planet.
Problem 04
Old space ideas failed
Previous plans to beam power from space used dangerous lasers or microwaves. Too risky to approve.
Part 2 — The Solution
Overview Energy: Power beamed from space
A startup called Overview Energy has a clever new idea. Instead of storing sunlight or burning fuel at night — why not collect sunlight in space, where it is always daytime, and send it back to Earth?
01
Satellites collect sunlight in orbit
In space, the sun never sets. Overview's 1,000 satellites will collect solar energy 24 hours a day, every single day.
02
Convert it to infrared light
The energy is turned into a wide, safe beam of near-infrared light. So safe, CEO Marc Berte says you can look straight into it.
03
Beam it down to solar farms
The light is aimed at large solar farms already on the ground. Those farms turn the incoming light into electricity — just like normal sunlight.
04
Data centers get power at night
As Earth rotates and solar farms go dark, satellites track them and keep the light coming. Clean power, around the clock.
"There's a big difference between being in any one energy market, and being in all of the energy markets."
— Marc Berte, CEO, Overview Energy
Part 3 — Meta's Historic Deal
Meta signs the world's first space-solar agreement
Meta has just signed a deal with Overview Energy — the very first of its kind in the world. They have reserved up to 1 gigawatt of space-delivered power. Here is what the deal looks like:
Deal at a glance
Who signedMeta & Overview Energy
Power amountUp to 1 Gigawatt
Number of satellites1,000 in geosynchronous orbit
Coverage areaUS West Coast to Western Europe
Each satellite lasts10+ years
What happens next
December 2025
Overview Energy came out of stealth. They proved power transmission works from an aircraft.
April 2026 — Now
Meta signs the deal. World's first space solar capacity agreement is official.
January 2028
First satellite launches to low Earth orbit. First ever power beam from space to the ground.
2030 and beyond
Full constellation of 1,000 satellites begins deploying. Meta starts receiving clean power from space.
Is this guaranteed to work? Not yet. Launching 1,000 satellites is a massive challenge. But the problem they are solving is very real — and Meta is serious about the solution.
The AI boom created an electricity customer that never existed before. And the companies solving that energy problem may end up being just as important as the ones building the AI itself.
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