Overview Energy wants to beam energy from space to existing solar farms | TechCrunch

"Overview Energy emerged from stealth today with a plan to use the world's solar panels as nighttime collectors of power beamed down from space. The startup plans to use large solar arrays in geosynchronous orbit - about 22,000 miles above the Earth where satellites match the planet's rotation - to harvest sunlight. It will then use infrared lasers to transmit that power to utility-scale solar farms on Earth, allowing them to send power to the grid nearly round the clock."

"Overview has raised $20 million to date, and part of that money has gone toward an airborne demonstration of its power beaming technology. A light aircraft transmitted power using a laser to a ground receiver over a distance of 5 kilometers (3 miles). Investors include the Aurelia Institute, Earthrise Ventures, Engine Ventures, EQT Foundation, Lowercarbon Capital, and Prime Movers Lab. As space launch costs have declined over the past decade or so, space-based power has gone from pure science fiction to something closer to reality."

"Aetherflux is also pursuing a laser-based approach. Others like Emrod and Orbital Composites/Virtus Solis are developing microwave-based power transmission, which sends energy wirelessly using a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum than Aetherflux and Overview. Microwaves are less sensitive to clouds and humidity than infrared lasers, which can't transmit in cloudy weather since the suspended water droplets would absorb much of the energy. But because microwave-based systems can't reuse existing solar farms, they would have to build their own ground stations."

A startup plans to place large solar arrays in geosynchronous orbit, harvest sunlight continuously, and transmit energy to Earth via infrared lasers aimed at utility-scale solar farms. The company raised $20 million and demonstrated airborne laser power transmission over a 5-kilometer distance using a light aircraft and ground receiver. Competing firms pursue laser or microwave wireless power transfer, with microwaves less affected by clouds but requiring dedicated ground stations. Major challenges include high launch and deployment costs for space hardware and the early-stage status of long-distance wireless power transmission technologies.

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