{"id":18743,"date":"2026-03-09T09:50:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=18743"},"modified":"2026-03-09T09:49:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T13:49:53","slug":"plane-beams-power-to-solar-panels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/plane-beams-power-to-solar-panels\/18743\/","title":{"rendered":"Solar panels collect sunlight during the day \u2014 Now a plane flying 16,000 ft over Pennsylvania has beamed energy to the ground and the system could soon spread nationwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

A plane flying over Pennsylvania was not in fact a regular flight; it had a beaming<\/em> purpose that filled<\/strong> us with pride.<\/p>\n

The international energy industry has seen several potential energy-generating innovations in recent years. From huge advanced wind turbines to the remarkable revival of the US nuclear sector, the nation is filled with energy. But sending it from point A to B can be a challenge. No more.<\/p>\n

How could energy be beamed directly to our solar panels?<\/strong><\/p>\n

How recent innovation has changed the global energy industry<\/h2>\n

We all know that our reliance on oil and gas needs to end.<\/p>\n

Especially considering that the recent military operations in the Middle East have caused a dramatic rise in oil prices.<\/strong> As such, most of the world has turned to the renewable energy sector.<\/p>\n

The solar power sector took decades to reach the 2022 mark of 1 TW produced, but only took two years after that to double that output to 2 TW in 2024.<\/p>\n

The more modern perovskite-silicon solar panels have achieved remarkable efficiency, producing almost 60% more energy than their predecessors.<\/strong> So what more can be achieved in the solar industry?<\/p>\n

Energy production has far greater impact on the global economy than we thought<\/h2>\n

The reality of the current energy market is that millions rely on it for their livelihood, and would struggle to find other employment if the market faded.<\/p>\n

And the clean energy sector has become a major factor in global economies. Renewable energy creates five times more employment opportunities<\/strong> than fossil fuels, hitting the 30 million mark a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

Solar power can impact the birth of new nations<\/a> that aim to generate all the power needed from the Sun.<\/p>\n

The efficiency of modern technology now allows power to be sent across vast distances<\/strong> with only a mere 1% loss. With the recent spike in oil prices, most of the world’s oil is stuck in tankers around the Middle East region. A new clandestine “oil highway” has emerged<\/a> for the sale of sanctioned oil.<\/p>\n

So what is the next step, as clearly the solar energy industry is our best answer to powering the world? One recent flight in Pennsylvania has revealed an answer.<\/p>\n

A landmark achievement in the solar energy sector has flown<\/em> over our heads<\/h2>\n

A startup called Overview Energy recently made a profoundly significant dream a reality when the company sent out a Cessna commercial plane over the skies in Pennsylvania. The plane was fitted with a laser that beamed solar energy<\/strong> directly to a receiver on the ground.<\/p>\n

The company states that this is the first time in history that a moving source of energy beamed power directly to regular ol’ solar panels on the ground. <\/p>\n

The test flight proved that the eye-safe beam of energy can send vast amounts of energy generated to solar panels that have a fixed receiver. The next step after the testflight would be to conduct a similar test in low-orbit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Solar power’s impact on the environment can be drastically reduced<\/a>, and space has far stronger solar energy waiting to be absorbed.<\/p>\n

Space solar power is the answer to our energy needs on Earth<\/h3>\n

Caltech\u2019s Space Solar Power Project demonstrated that power can be transferred in space<\/strong> using microwaves. However, this system uses an optical laser to send the solar energy downwards to us.<\/p>\n

The plane used a low-power-density beam or laser to send the solar power down to normal, everyday solar panels on the ground. But this system needs to be upgraded to a high-density beam to make the theory feasible, and the team noted that more safety protocols would need to be developed.<\/p>\n

Overview expects the system to beam megawatts of energy by 2030<\/strong>, and possibly send gigawatts later in the decade.<\/p>\n

As some search the deepest parts of the nation for oceans of energy<\/a>, Overview is looking up towards the sky to power our progress.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: Our coverage of events affecting companies is purely informative and descriptive. Under no circumstances does it seek to promote an opinion or create a trend, nor can it be taken as investment advice or a recommendation of any kind.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A plane flying over Pennsylvania was not in fact a regular flight; it had a beaming purpose that filled us with pride. The international energy industry has seen several potential energy-generating innovations in recent years. From huge advanced wind turbines to the remarkable revival of the US nuclear sector, the nation is filled with energy. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":18784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"plane,solar,beam","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"A remarkable achievement has been made by Overview Energy. The company proved that a plane can beam energy directly to a moving target on the ground.","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}