Meta Platforms recently entered into a partnership to the use solar energy collected in space to power its AI data centres. This announcement aligns with the company’s plans to develop new solutions to support rising demands for the technology.
Meta stated it has struck a deal with Overview Energy for up to 1 gigawatt of space solar energy to support data centre operations, making it one of the first technology companies to secure capacity reservation.
Overview is developing and testing its underlying technology, with plans to conduct an initial orbital demonstration in 2028. Meta expects it will have access to the energy by the end of the decade.
The social media giant explained solar facilities on Earth only generate electricity when the sun is shining, leaving them idle for significant parts of the day. Overview Energy is apparently trying to “unlock these idle hours”.
Its satellites sit in geosynchronous orbit roughly 22,000 miles above the Earth’s equator, where sunlight is constant, collecting energy in space and beaming it to solar facilities on the ground as low-intensity, near infrared light.
This ultimately means solar farms that currently sit idle at night “can keep producing electricity around the clock, maximising their output and creating more energy for the grid”.
Meta said that these facilities convert the beam into electricity without requiring additional land or grid infrastructure.
“Because the technology will build on solar infrastructure that’s already in place rather than requiring new facilities, it can come online faster at scale than traditional buildouts”, Meta stated.
Long-duration energy
Meta said it also has a partnership with Noon Energy to deploy up to 1GWh of “long-duration” energy storage, which it claims will enable 24/7 clean, reliable power for next-generation AI data centres.
It explained that even with new sources of power generation, the grid needs storage that can carry clean energy for extended periods, beyond a few hours and into days at a time.
Meta has reserved the energy storage capacity, with an initial 2.5GWh pilot demonstration project expected to be completed, also in 2028.
Source: Mobile World Live
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Source: Tahawul Tech