Meta has entered a historic agreement with Overview Energy to secure renewable electricity for its data centers during nighttime hours by beaming solar power from space. This deal addresses the surging energy demands of artificial intelligence, as Meta's facilities consumed over 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2024, a figure sufficient to power 1.7 million American homes for a year. With the company committed to sourcing 30 gigawatts of renewable power, it faces a significant challenge: solar energy generation typically halts after sunset unless paired with expensive battery storage or alternative generation sources. Overview Energy, a Virginia-based startup that recently emerged from stealth, proposes a novel solution. Instead of relying on ground-based batteries, the company is developing satellites capable of capturing abundant solar energy in space. These spacecraft will convert the collected power into near-infrared light and beam it down to large terrestrial solar farms. This infrared beam allows existing solar infrastructure to generate electricity at night without the need for new hardware. According to CEO Marc Berte, the technology uses a wide infrared beam that is safe for human exposure, eliminating the regulatory and safety concerns associated with high-power lasers or microwave transmissions. The partnership marks Meta's first capacity reservation agreement with Overview, securing up to one gigawatt of power. To facilitate this, the companies introduced a new metric called megawatt photons, which measures the amount of light required to generate a megawatt of electricity. While it remains unclear if financial transactions have occurred, the agreement represents a significant step toward commercializing space-based solar power. Overview has already demonstrated power transmission from an aircraft and plans to launch a satellite into low Earth orbit in January 2028 for its first space-to-ground power test. The long-term vision involves launching approximately 1,000 spacecraft into geosynchronous orbit by 2030. These high-orbit satellites would remain fixed above specific points on Earth, providing power for over a decade each. The initial fleet is designed to cover a region extending from the US West Coast to Western Europe. As the Earth rotates, the satellites would track customer solar farms, delivering light precisely when and where it is needed to extend their generation window into the night. Berte emphasizes that this approach allows for flexibility in serving various global energy markets simultaneously, a distinct advantage over localized generation methods. If successfully deployed at scale, this technology could significantly increase the return on investment for solar farms and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The deal underscores the intensifying competition for energy resources within the technology sector, pushing innovators to explore unconventional methods to sustain the growth of AI and data-intensive operations. The agreement highlights a potential shift toward space-based infrastructure as a critical component of future sustainable energy grids.