Meta is aiming skyward to keep its AI engines running — and it could matter to the crypto sector too.
In a move to secure more reliable, continuous power for its electricity-hungry AI data centers, Meta announced an agreement with Virginia startup Overview Energy to obtain up to 1 gigawatt of electricity from a planned space-based solar power system by the end of the decade. Instead of putting data centers in orbit (an idea floated by some), Meta’s approach is to generate solar power in geosynchronous orbit and beam it down to ground receivers that feed terrestrial solar facilities — delivering around-the-clock, carbon-free energy where it’s needed.
Overview Energy says it has already demonstrated a core element of the tech by transmitting power from a moving airplane to a ground receiver. The Meta deal is milestone-based: Meta gets preferential access to up to 1 GW of capacity once Overview clears its technology and deployment hurdles. Meta called space-based solar “early-stage but promising,” noting it can deliver continuous, carbon-free power and be directed in real time to help stabilize the grid.
Meta also struck a separate energy-storage deal with Noon Energy for more than 100 hours of storage. The partners plan an initial pilot in 2028 — 25 megawatts with 2.5 gigawatt-hours of storage — as a step toward a broader 1 GW/100 GWh target.
This push comes as tech firms face rising pressure to secure reliable electricity amid an AI-driven surge in data center demand that strains the U.S. grid. Meta already backs more than 30 GW of new energy projects across 28 states, spanning wind, solar, nuclear, and geothermal resources. The company framed the Overview tie-up as a way to give the nascent technology the commercial certainty it needs to scale.
Not everyone is sold on orbital computing or power. In a pre-IPO filing, SpaceX warned that orbital AI computing “may not achieve commercial viability,” a different tone from CEO Elon Musk’s public endorsement of space-based AI. More broadly, space-based solar still faces steep questions about launch costs, maintenance, and overall economics — it’s never been proven at commercial scale.
Why crypto watchers should care: persistent, dispatchable zero-carbon power changes the energy calculus for energy-intensive industries. If space-sourced electricity and long-duration storage can scale affordably, they could affect costs and sustainability decisions for AI data centers — and for crypto mining and infrastructure that remain sensitive to power availability and price. For now, Meta’s bet is a high-profile signal that tech giants view orbital power as worth exploring.
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