Data Centers Or Sci-fi? Meta Taps Into Space Solar, 100-h…

Do you think Darth Vader worried about how to power the Death Star? Or was that responsibility delegated to a less Force-sensitive underling? Did the Empire use a microgrid? Which galactic EPC firm maintained the satellite’s hypermatter reactor? Did Emperor Palpatine push energy tax credit legislation through the Imperial Senate to grease the wheels of his contractors?

Silly questions, perhaps. But the truth about powering future data centers is starting to sound as strange as science fiction.

Hyperscaler Meta has announced two new partnerships that push the boundaries of what’s possible. The first is a deal with Overview Energy to bring up to 1 gigawatt (GW) of space solar energy to Earth; the second is an agreement with long-duration energy storage (LDES) company Noon Energy to deploy up to 1 GW/100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of its proprietary technology.

“We invest in the future, not just what’s available today,” ventured Meta’s vice president of energy and sustainability, Nat Sahlstrom.

That might be an understatement.

Space Solar: The Final Frontier?

Meta’s collaboration with Overview Energy intends to increase the capacity of existing solar farms by enabling around-the-clock energy production. Typical solar photovoltaic (PV) farms are limited by available sunlight, but space solar enables the collection of solar energy in orbit and its transmission back to terrestrial facilities.

Overview Energy’s satellites sit in geosynchronous orbit roughly 22,000 miles above Earth’s equator, where sunlight is constant. The energy collected is beamed to Earth-based solar facilities on the ground as low-intensity, near-infrared light. This means solar farms that currently sit idle at night can keep producing electricity around the clock, maximizing their output and creating more energy for the grid.

Through a process nearly every human who ever lived would describe as magic, those sites convert the near-infrared beams into electricity and feed it to the grid, just as they do with natural sunlight. No additional land or grid infrastructure is required, meaning space solar can come online much faster at scale than traditionally assumed.

“Space solar energy is a great solution for the power and energy issues that we’re going through now because it allows us to take existing infrastructure on the ground and make it work day and night,” explained Overview Energy founder and CEO Marc Berte. “This partnership is the first step towards a future where energy becomes something we can almost instantaneously redirect to where and when we need it to solve the large-scale energy problems of the future.”

Meta’s partnership with Overview makes it one of the first major companies to secure a capacity reservation for space solar energy. Orbit-to-grid tech, which many still think of as a “concept” rather than a proven technology, is about to get a real chance to shine.

“One of the things that’s most compelling about Overview is it’s a genuinely new category,” pointed out Meta’s Sahlstrom. “Solar collected in orbit, beamed to the existing ground facilities to generate power around the clock, is truly transformative for what solar technology can do.”

Storage for Days

Meta also intends to enable 24/7 clean power for its next-generation AI data centers with ultra-long-duration energy storage (ULDES) via an up to 1 GW/100 GWh deployment with Noon Energy.

Many energy storage use cases tap out at four hours, which is more or less the length of the peak utilities plan for, and use lithium-ion technology. Alternative chemistries and technologies promise 8, 12, or more hours of storage, and companies are finding LDES deployments that make sense. Noon’s modular, reversible solid oxide fuel cells enable astounding 100+ hour carbon-based energy storage.

“Our partnership with Meta is a monumental step toward realizing what we founded Noon to achieve,” said Chris Graves, co-founder and CEO of Noon Energy. “Meta recognizes the promise in our 100+ hour ultra-long duration storage technology. Data centers stand as one of the best applications for Noon’s battery system, and we look forward to working with Meta on building production capacity and an ultra-LDES supply chain in the years ahead.”

In what works out to be one of the largest-ever commitments to ULDES, Meta has reserved up to 1 GW/100 GWh of capacity. An initial 25 megawatt (MW)/2.5 GWh pilot of Noon’s battery system should be online by 2028.

“Data centers and robust power systems in general absolutely need always-on power, and short-duration batteries can’t always bridge those multi-day gaps. Noon’s technology can,” offered Sahlstrom.

What’s Next?

To date, Meta has contracted more than 30 GW of clean and renewable energy, representing billions in capital investments. This includes partnerships with Sage Geosystems and XGS Energy to develop next-generation geothermal energy. Meta is also one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history, supporting 7.7 GW of nuclear energy across agreements with Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo, and Constellation Energy.

its peers, Meta has also been working on long-term planning with utilities to pay what it deems the “full cost” of its data center use, including hundreds of millions of dollars in grid upgrades, new generation, transmission lines, and substations.

Overview Energy has an orbital demonstration planned for 2028 that will mark the first time its system beams energy wirelessly from space to a solar farm on Earth. If successful, commercial delivery to the U.S. grid could start as early as 2030. Noon Energy’s demonstration project is also targeting 2028.

Both technologies are early, which is precisely why Meta believes they’re worth supporting now. The potential to unlock more from existing infrastructure and store energy for days at a time are innovations that can reshape what’s possible. Will either become a reality? Meta is willing to take that bet.