AI’s next constraint is not compute. It is power. The rapid growth of AI is driving unprecedented demand for data-centre capacity, but the electricity infrastructure required to support it is not keeping pace. Operators are facing longer grid-connection timelines, rising power costs, greater cooling requirements, limited access to firm generation and increasing pressure to reduce emissions without compromising reliability. Power can no longer be treated as an operating input secured after a site is selected. It is becoming one of the primary factors determining where, when and whether new AI infrastructure can be developed. In the first of a series of Virtus Solis industry deep dives, we examine why space-based solar power should be considered as part of long-term data-centre capacity planning. SBSP offers a fundamentally different proposition: • Firm, 24/7 clean power • Long-term price certainty • Greater flexibility in site selection • Scalable capacity for 100MW+ campuses • Reduced dependence on constrained local grids • Improved energy resilience through supply diversification Space-based solar power will not replace the entire energy stack yet. It can, however, become an important part of a diversified portfolio alongside grid supply, terrestrial renewables, storage and other firm generation. For hyperscalers, data-centre developers, infrastructure investors and governments, the time to assess these options is before power constraints delay the next generation of compute capacity. Explore the Virtus Solis data-centre briefing: https://lnkd.in/g3CA38QS #SpaceBasedSolarPower #SBSP #DataCentres #AIInfrastructure #EnergyInfrastructure #CleanEnergy #VirtusSolis
Virtus Solis Technologies
Space Research and Technology
Troy, MI 2,740 followers
A space solar power company.
About us
The impetus for Virtus Solis is to provide clean, low-cost renewable energy that directly supplants primary energy production for all terrestrial uses and eventually even extra-terrestrial. Fossil fuels power 85% of the world in a non-sustainable fashion. This must change. There are limited options for disruption because terrestrial renewable power is intermittent - it is seldom available when and where needed. Ubiquitous, inexpensive and clean energy are desperately needed. Cleaning up electric power requires replacing the equivalent of more than a million tons of coal use every day for the next 30 years. But even that is not enough. Globally, most of the planet’s population suffers from energy poverty, and access to low cost energy is the greatest lever for universal prosperity. Limitless low-cost energy solves these problems and promotes sustainable growth and harmony. Virtus Solis is the first low-cost space solar power system able to address the entire $8T energy market.
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http://www.virtussolis.space
External link for Virtus Solis Technologies
- Industry
- Space Research and Technology
- Company size
- 2-10 employees
- Headquarters
- Troy, MI
- Type
- Privately Held
- Founded
- 2019
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Troy, MI 48085, US
Employees at Virtus Solis Technologies
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
The ability of Space Based Solar to place the most cost-effective generation technology (<$0.12/W photovoltaics) where the sun always shines makes the productivity 8 times better minimum than on the ground (and up to 50 times better in overcast winter). An efficient wireless power transfer link means the unit economics can outperform every other form of firm energy generation on the planet. Virtus Solis Technologies plans to have first commercial operation in 2030. DM me to know more.
Space solar power has entered the energy conversation — and the energy industry needs to be paying attention. At SF Climate Week 2026, three commercial space solar power (SSP) companies didn't pitch a vision. They announced contracts. Virtus Solis Technologies signed terms for a 500-MW deployment agreement, with pilot deployments targeted within 24 months. Overview Energy revealed a capacity reservation agreement with Meta to power AI data centers from geosynchronous orbit. Reachpower is already operating terrestrial wireless power systems for defense and robotics customers today. What's driving the shift isn't optimism — it's a gap the grid hasn't solved. Electricity demand is surging. AI infrastructure is creating gigawatt-scale load forecasts. Transmission bottlenecks, interconnection queues, and the intermittency of wind and solar are straining planners. What's missing is firm, dispatchable, scalable clean power. That's exactly what SSP is designed to deliver — from orbit, to wherever demand is highest, within seconds, with no new transmission infrastructure required. The economics are also closer than most assume. SSP's target LCOE of $50–$100/MWh compares favorably to gas peakers ($150–$200/MWh) and long-duration storage ($93/MWh) — the actual alternatives for firm clean power. NASA projects costs could fall to $30–$80/MWh by 2050. On September 30, 2026, the Space Frontier Foundation will host a dedicated Space Solar Power Symposium in Washington, D.C., positioned alongside the Experience POWER and Data Center POWER eXchange conferences — bringing SSP directly into the center of the utility and infrastructure planning conversation. The standards, commercial structures, and deployment models are still being written. The organizations that engage now will help shape them. Read the full analysis at POWER: https://lnkd.in/gkwuA-JA
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
The U.S. Department of Defense just treated wireless power transmission the way the Army Corps of Engineers treats bridge construction — as an engineering problem with a known solution. Last month, PowerLight Technologies, sponsored by U.S. Central Command, delivered kilowatt-class wireless power to a military drone at 5,000 feet at Shaw Air Force Base. The system tracked and steered to the aircraft as it maneuvered. The drone stayed aloft on beamed power — no landing, no fuel. The headline is striking. The underlying physics is not. There are two meaningfully different approaches to wireless power beaming. PowerLight uses laser light — infrared. Lasers concentrate electromagnetic energy into a tight beam at a small ground footprint. The constraint is the same as any optical system: clouds, rain, and atmospheric turbulence scatter or absorb the beam. For delivering energy from orbit through 36,000 kilometers of space and variable weather below, laser becomes an operational problem that does not close. Microwave wireless power transmission solves that problem. At frequencies like 10 GHz, electromagnetic waves pass through clouds and rain with minimal loss — the same reason weather radar works through storms. The receiving array, called a rectenna, has a larger footprint, but beam intensity at ground level stays roughly one-fifth the intensity of midday sun. Both share the same fundamental physics: electromagnetic radiation carries energy, a phased array steers it, and a rectifier converts the received wave to usable electricity. The physics is the same. The architecture is not. For a Space Based Solar Power constellation, microwave is the only approach that closes at commercial scale. The beam must survive orbital distances, cross any weather, and deliver consistent intensity to a ground installation financed over a 20-year contract. Baseload continuity is the product. That is the problem Virtus Solis Technologies has spent four years solving at 10 GHz. The transmit array cannot fire without an active pilot signal from the ground receiver — the beam is initiated by the rectenna, not the satellite. VS is targeting 70% DC-to-DC efficiency in a 2027 DOE demonstration, against China's current 20.8%. The serious question is not whether wireless power sounds futuristic. It is whether it can be controlled, measured, regulated and delivered safely at scale. The DoD just proved laser power beaming works for drones. The microwave architecture answers that question for the world. #FirmPower #WirelessPowerTransmission #SpaceBasedSolarPower #CleanEnergy #EnergyPolicy https://lnkd.in/gHNgwwqA
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
Re-industrialisation is not a slogan. It is a power demand story. Everyone wants the same thing now. AI data centres. Chip fabs. Advanced manufacturing. Defence supply chains. Electrified transport. Clean industry. Sovereign capability. Less dependence on fragile fuel markets and foreign supply chains. Fine. But none of that runs on ambition - It runs on electrons. You can see the problem playing out everywhere. In the US, the AI buildout is colliding with grid queues, transmission delays and huge new power demand. In Australia, Victoria is trying to rebuild its energy system around renewables, transmission, storage and new load, but the politics of the grid are getting harder by the month. Renewable Energy Zones. Transmission corridors. Land access. Regional backlash. Planning delays. Coal closures. New demand. Old infrastructure. Everyone wants clean power, but nobody wants the messy physical buildout in their backyard. The new economy is physical.It needs land. Steel. Copper. Permits. Transmission. Generation. Storage. Cooling. Contracts. Finance. Community consent. And above all, firm power. You cannot re-industrialise on intermittent promises. You cannot build the next economy if the power strategy is still stuck in the last one. That is why I think space-based solar power belongs in the serious infrastructure conversation. At Virtus Solis Technologies Solis, we are not trying to make space sound interesting. Space is already interesting. SpaceX has just helped make space infrastructure legible to mainstream capital. The question now is what we build with that legitimacy. For us, the answer is clean, firm, safe power that can be delivered to large-load customers without asking every new project to fight its way through the same land, fuel, transmission and grid bottlenecks. AI campuses, utilities, industrial sites, data centres, desalination plants, defence manufacturing and the businesses of tomorrow do not just need clean energy.They need power certainty. Power is no longer plumbing. It is permission to build. #VirtusSolis #SpaceBasedSolar #CleanEnergy #FirmPower #EnergyInfrastructure #Reindustrialisation #AIInfrastructure #DataCentres #AdvancedManufacturing #Utilities #SpaceTech
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
The relentless onslaught of night has been screwing with our solar panels, but it is noon in space all the time.
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
AI data centres are no longer just buildings full of servers. They are becoming grid-scale industrial loads. In some markets, the question is no longer “can we build the data centre?” It is “where does the power come from, and can it be delivered reliably?” Power is not a procurement detail. It is now part of the AI supply chain. The winners in AI infrastructure will not just be the companies with the best models, chips or capital. They will be the ones that can secure clean, firm, low-cost power at scale. Virtus Solis Technologies is focused on that layer of the infrastructure stack. Space-based solar is not a novelty in this context. It is a response to a very practical constraint: large loads need reliable power, and they need it without waiting a decade for the grid to catch up. AI needs compute. Compute needs power. Power needs to be planned like critical infrastructure. #VirtusSolis #AIInfrastructure #DataCentres #FirmPower #CleanEnergy #EnergyInfrastructure #PowerFromSpace #SpaceBasedSolar #SBSP #GridInfrastructure #FutureOfEnergy
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
The Carnegie Endowment just published a report asking a question the energy industry needs to hear more often: Are the big announcements actually going to deliver? Their focus is hyperscaler nuclear commitments — the gigawatt-scale deals we have all been reading about. Carnegie's assessment is measured and important: technology companies will have to decide how nuclear fits their energy strategies, and then grapple with the obligations that follow. Announcements are not delivery. Commitments are not capacity. In energy, credibility is built on execution — not press releases. This matters for every emerging energy technology, not just nuclear. The clean energy space is full of ambitious claims, compelling physics, and slide decks that explain why a technology will work. What separates infrastructure from a science project is a different list entirely: demonstrated performance, regulatory engagement, filed patents, an engineering team that can deliver at commercial scale, and a business model grounded in how customers actually procure power. The serious players are being sorted from the rest. Virtus Solis has been doing the unglamorous work. We secured an FCC experimental license in 2022, and we are renewing it this fall ahead of our 2027 demonstration project with the Department of Energy — a public demonstration that will display 70% DC-DC efficiency, almost 10x better than the state of the art. Our FAA payload review is complete. Our beam steering technology has been demonstrated at 10⁻³ degree pointing accuracy — 1,000 times more precise than the published state of the art. The physics are not theoretical. The regulatory pathway is not hypothetical. We are not building a science project. We are building a commercial infrastructure platform — one designed to deliver firm, clean, 24/7/365 power from a Molniya orbit constellation directly to customers who are signing 15 and 20-year contracts and need to know the power will actually be there. Carnegie is right to ask the hard questions. Every serious technology in this space should welcome them. The companies that can answer with demonstrated results rather than projected ones are the ones worth watching. Virtus Solis Technologies #FirmPower #CleanEnergy #SpaceBasedSolar #EnergyCredibility https://lnkd.in/gj4BAmiX
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
When you think about clean & cheap power, solar probably comes to mind. From its first application in the space program in 1958, efficiency has crept up. The first solar cells were about 10% efficient. Since then, the best solar cells approach 50% efficiency. [1] And their costs have dropped ... massively. The first solar cells cost almost $3,500 per watt (in 2026 dollars). Today, solar cells are as cheap as $0.26 per watt. But when they are used on the ground, the best solar only provides energy at about 30% of their rated capacity. 1000 Watts of solar cells generates an average of about 310 watts at the best spots on earth. In northern climates, in winter, those same solar cells may generate as little as 10 watts on average. The same solar cell, in space can generate 1300 Watts in orbit. It will generate 5 to more than 100 times as much power as on the ground. This doesn’t sound possible until you realize that sunlight is 36% more intense above the atmosphere, no clouds block the sun, and the sun always shines in space. That sounds great. Except, extension cords don’t work from orbit. So, for this energy to be usable on the ground it must be moved wirelessly. That means using photons to get energy from space to the ground. Photons carry energy as electromagnetic waves. And they are defined by their frequency. We see some photons; those are visible light. We feel some lower frequency photons as heat. Really high frequency photons are used for medical purposes like x-rays. And, of course, our electronics talk using relatively low frequency photons called RF. Those lower frequency photons, used for cell phones, wi-fi, radar and many other applications, can travel through clouds, rain snow and other weather that block and scatter the photons we see and feel. This is how energy can be generated in space and sent to the earth. Power can be beamed silently and invisibly using radio frequency 24 hours a day. When those photons get to the ground, they can be converted into electricity using a device called a rectenna. These are made from patterns in copper a few microns thick and connected to semiconductors the size of pepper flakes. electricity. And performance has improved since the first ones were built in 1964. Like solar cells, rectennas convert photons into electricity. But they work on different principles. A rectenna is a combined rectifier and antenna. The radio frequencies cause the antenna to electrically oscillate, and the rectifier converts that into usable electricity. Because it uses different principles, it can convert photons into electricity much more efficiently than solar. [2] Combining solar panels in orbit and beaming power to rectennas on the ground, creates a new kind of solar power, able to deliver power continuously using less land and less scarce resources than solar power on the ground. Virtus Solis Technologies
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
Everyone is talking about chips, but the bigger constraint may be electrons. AI data centres are becoming grid-scale industrial loads, and the issue is no longer just whether companies can get GPUs, land, permits or fibre. It is whether they can secure enough firm power to run the infrastructure they are planning. That power needs to be clean, available 24/7, resilient to weather, fuel volatility and grid congestion, and scalable in 100MW+ blocks. That is the gap Virtus Solis is built around. Space-based solar is not just a space story, it is an infrastructure story. The market does not need more intermittent generation with fragile backup plans. It needs clean, firm, safe power at industrial scale. That is what we are building at Virtus Solis Technologies Solis. #CleanEnergy #AIInfrastructure #DataCenters #EnergyTransition #SpaceBasedSolar #SpaceTech #GridResilience #FirmPower #Infrastructure #VirtusSolis
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Virtus Solis Technologies reposted this
Few charts have this strong of a correlation. #Energy per person is a single economic knob that correlates with wealth across nationals and individuals. When nations have more energy, the per capita GDP goes up exponentially. [1] Within a country, households enjoy more energy for comfort and transportation as income goes up. [2] This trend has been sustained for centuries starting with the industrial revolution because energy is at the root of all economic activity from industrial production to information processing. But, there is are limits to how energy supply can grow. The most critical of these limits is the Energy Return On Investment (EROI) [3]. If EROI is less than 1, then expanding that source makes the world poorer. If EROI is greater than 1, then the world becomes a little richer, with increasingly available energy. However, it takes more than break-even to maintain a modern civilization. It takes and EROI of between 10 and 20 to continue to produce energy and build everything else. Hydro power is the highest EROI energy source. Its also why its one of the cheapest sources of energy. Solar is increasingly the next best EROI. The incremental improvements in solar power have improved its EROI and continue to improve its performance. But, what if there was a way to improve solar by a factor of 5, 10 or even 50? Then solar becomes the best way to power the world and grow wealth by a wide margin. It beats hydro power. It beats nuclear. There is a way to do it. Solar is limited by two things. The weather and night. Solar power plants only produce power at about 30% of their capacity. In northern climates in winter it can be as little as 1-2%. Move solar production above the clouds and out of the shadow of the earth and it become the highest EROI energy source we have available. That is space based solar power (#SBSP). It can also become the cheapest source of #power. It also transforms solar from an intermittent into the firm power source needed for households, industry, and compute. That solves the problems we see today in expanding energy production to increase global prosperity and to solve the power bottlenecks limiting #AI deployment. That's the problem we are solving at Virtus Solis Technologies
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