rewrite this title Goal of Continuous Energy Production: Energy to be Transmitted from Orbit to Solar Power Plants | Metaverse Planet

Overview Energy, aiming to transmit energy from space with lasers, plans to place solar panels in orbit to transform existing solar power plants into facilities that produce electricity at night as well.

Overview Energy, aiming to redefine solar energy, has taken the stage with an ambitious project aiming to transform existing solar power plants on Earth into facilities that generate electricity at night as well. The company aims to send the energy it collects in orbit to Earth.

The company’s approach is based on collecting continuous sunlight in space with large solar panels to be placed in geosynchronous orbit approximately 35,000 km above Earth and transmitting this energy directly to large-scale solar power plants on Earth via infrared lasers. In this way, nearly 24-hour energy production independent of daylight is targeted.

First Orbit Test in 2028

The startup has raised $20 million in investment to date, and a portion of this budget was used for an aerial demonstration of the technology. A laser system mounted on a light aircraft demonstrated the system’s viability by transmitting energy to a ground-based receiver from a distance of 5 kilometers. Although space-based energy systems have been seen as science fiction for many years, the significant drop in space launch costs over the last decade has brought this field a little closer to commercial reality. However, there are still significant hurdles to overcome. Sending giant solar panels to geosynchronous orbit is still much more costly than installing panels on Earth. Additionally, wireless energy transmission from space to Earth is also in the early development stage.

The company aims to send its first test satellite to low Earth orbit in 2028, and then commission its final system in geosynchronous orbit in 2030 to start megawatt-level energy transmission.

Not a Competition-Free Environment

There are other companies developing similar solutions. While Aetherflux works on a laser-based transmission technique like Overview, Emrod and the Orbital Composites/Virtus Solis teams adopt a different method based on microwaves. Microwaves are less affected by clouds and moisture, which reduces weather-related interruptions. However, since this technology cannot be integrated into existing solar farms, companies need to build their own new ground stations.

Overview Energy‘s advantage is offering easier integration by using existing solar farms as infrastructure. Nevertheless, the company needs to prove that energy beams sent from space are safe and will not deviate from the target. Also, the efficiency of the lasers is important, because losses during the conversion to infrared after energy is collected in space could eliminate all the advantages of the system.

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