Trump Is Losing The War On Solar Power, Part Infinity

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US President Trump’s war on solar power is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Everybody knows about his personal grudge against wind turbines, but solar panels? Why them? Regardless, if President Trump really means to fight the Sun, it’s a losing battle. US innovators in the space solar industry are on track to beam solar energy directly from space, down to practically anywhere on Earth — Trump or no Trump.

The Space Solar Race Is Heating Up

With the cost of rocket launches falling off a cliff and a new wave of next-generation solar cells in play, the time is ripe for an idea that was once confined to the pages of 1940s science fiction novels, that is, send satellites into space to collect solar energy, and beam it wirelessly down to receivers on Earth (see lots more space PV background here).

The latest space solar innovator to burst out of stealth mode is the US-based startup Overview Energy. Last week, news dropped that the company has gathered in $20 million — so far — from leading investors including Engine Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Prime Movers Lab, EQT Foundation, Earthrise Ventures, and Aurelia Institute.

The cash infusion is significant because it demonstrates, yet again, that private sector investors can still push the envelope on solar innovation here in the US, regardless of this year’s abrupt shift in federal energy policy.

For that matter, NASA and the Department of Defense are continuing to support the domestic space solar industry. NASA has stated that its primary focus is on space-to-space applications, but researchers anticipate that at least two of the agency’s R&D projects have space-to-Earth potential.

The Time Is Ripe For A Space Solar Revolution

Of course, solar panels in space are nothing new, having been deployed by the US to power a satellite for the first time in 1958. The newness factor involves the potential for drawing power from the Sun on a 24/7 basis, to be used on Earth regardless of the seasons or the weather.

Overview Energy organized itself out of sight in 2022, when the space solar field was still considered somewhat futuristic. However, that was then. When Overview announced itself to the world last week, it took note of the current state of the space solar industry.

“Launch costs have dropped more than tenfold, and annual launches have grown just as dramatically,” Overview reminded everyone. “Mass manufacturing satellites is now routine. High-efficiency photovoltaics and high-power, high-efficiency lasers have become inexpensive, reliable, and commercially available.”

A New Use For Old Solar Power Plants

Overview also takes care to differentiate itself from early stage R&D efforts. The company is focused like a thousand points of light on a commercially viable space solar platform.

Key to their business plan is the use of existing solar power plants as receivers. “Because our receivers are existing solar projects, there’s no new land, no new construction, and no years-long wait for interconnection,” Overview explains.

“Solar projects can earn revenue during the 65-75% of hours their assets currently sit idle. Utilities can bypass congested corridors and draw on infinite energy reserves above the atmosphere,” Overview emphasizes.

In essence, the Overview model is an orbiting peaker plant, replacing new gas power plants for the delivery of electricity during peak use hours. “Households see lower electricity costs as satellites blunt the peaks that drive price spikes. Offtakers like data centers get access to massive energy capacity and can come online in days instead of years,” they add again for good measure.

While some innovators are concentrating on microwave beaming, Overview notes that the large size of the terrestrial microwave receivers will lead to land use conflicts, among other limitations. The company also dismisses orbiting mirrors and narrow-beam lasers as impractical and uneconomical.

“We converged on the one design that passes every test: a wide-beam, geosynchronous, near-infrared system that safely delivers power to existing solar projects on Earth. And to do that, we’re focused on optimizing it for real-world constraints, especially cost,” Overview explains.

They outline five criteria:

Safety – Transmission must be completely safe for people, wildlife, aircraft, and other satellites.

Fundability – The first megawatts delivered for under $1 billion.

Cost – Competitive with other firm power sources.

Land area – Use significantly less land than traditional solar with battery storage.

Resilience – No single point of failure, with a distributed design that’s hard to knock offline.

“Overview’s satellites will operate at an altitude of approximately 36,000 kilometers (about 22,000 miles) in geosynchronous orbit, collecting sunlight continuously and transmitting it as low-intensity, invisible infrared light,” the company elaborates.

As described by Overview, the system deploys the same wavelength as night vision security cameras,  commonly used in homes. “The beam is never more intense than the sun, never visible, and never harmful — passively safe for people, wildlife, aircraft, and other spacecraft,” Overview states.

Next Steps For Space (And Earth) Solar In The US

CalTech is credited with launching the first serious, generously funded space solar R&D program back in 2013. At the time 2050 seemed a reasonable goal for commercial application, but Overview is among the US startups (here’s another one) putting the technology pieces together for a timeline jump.

If all goes according to plan, Overview expects to send its device into low Earth orbit in 2028, followed by megawatt-scale transmission in 2030. “In the early 2030s, we’ll be capable of delivering more than a gigawatt of 24/7 clean energy anywhere on Earth,” the company states.

All of this is…interesting! Despite the best efforts of Trump and his Republican allies in Congress, solar industry stakeholders, investors, and energy consumers continue to press for more renewable energy. If space solar can add value to Earth-based solar power plants, so much the better.

With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at some solar news here on Earth. Back in September of 2024, the Dutch pension plan APG put up $400 million to help the solar developer Doral Renewables. The investment in Doral (the US joint venture of two Israeli energy and financial firms along with other US partners) continues to spin out into shovels-in-the-ground projects.

The latest news from Doral involves the new Lambs Draw Solar Project, which will bring 270 megawatts of solar power to Kansas. That’s a significant step up the renewable energy ladder for the deep red state, where only 458 megawatts of solar power have been installed so far.

Another investor with US news to share is the Japanese firm ITOCHU Corporation, which has been ramping up its interest in US renewable energy projects through its subsidiary Tyr Energy. On December 11 ITOCHU announced a new investment in the  324-megawatt (dc) Black Hollow Sun solar power plant (aka the Platte River Solar Power Project) in Colorado. The project is already under way and partly commissioned, with full operation to follow in 2026.

Image: The space solar industry is ramping up to speed faster than expected, with US innovators front and center in the race for commercial deployment (courtesy of Overview Energy).