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Meta inks deal for solar power at night, beamed from space

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The race to secure electricity for AI models has reached new heights: Meta has signed an agreement with the startup Overview Energy that could see a thousand satellites beam infrared light to solar farms that power data centers at night.

In 2024, Meta’s data centers used more than 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity—roughly enough to power more than 1.7 million American homes for a year—and its need for compute power is only increasing. The company has committed to building 30 gigawatts of renewable power sources, with a focus on industrial-scale solar power plants.

Typically, data centers turning to solar power must either invest in battery storage or rely on other generation sources to operate at night.

Overview, a four-year-old, Ashburn, Virginia, outfit that emerged from stealth in December, has a different solution: The company is developing spacecraft that collect plentiful solar power in space. It then plans to convert that energy to near-infrared light and beam it at sufficiently large solar farms—on the order of hundreds of megawatts—which can convert that light to electricity.

By using a wide, infrared beam to power existing terrestrial solar infrastructure, Overview thinks it can sidestep the technological challenges and safety and regulatory issues that bedevil plans to transmit power to Earth through high-power lasers or microwave beams. CEO Marc Berte says you’ll be able to stare right into his satellite’s beam with no ill effects.

The technology would increase the return on investment from building solar farms and reduce reliance on fossil fuels — if it can be deployed at scale.

Overview says it has already demonstrated power transmission to the ground from an aircraft, and is planning to launch a satellite to low Earth orbit in January 2028 to perform its first power transmission from space.

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In today’s announcement, Meta said it signed the first capacity reservation agreement with Overview to receive up to 1 gigawatt of power from the company’s spacecraft, although it’s not clear if any money changed hands. Overview developed a new metric for this contract, megawatt photons, which is the amount of light required to generate a megawatt of electricity.

Berte expects to begin launching the satellites that would fulfill that commitment in 2030, with a goal of flying 1,000 spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit, a high orbit in which each satellite remains fixed above the same point on Earth. He expects each of the company’s spacecraft to provide power from space for more than 10 years.

Once in space, Berte says the fleet of spacecraft will be able to cover about a third of the planet, with an initial deployment that will reach from the West Coast of the United States across to Western Europe. As the Earth rotates below and customer solar farms enter evening and night, Overview’s spacecraft should boost their electrical generation with additional light from space.

Berte sees opportunity in combining both generation and transmission, with the flexibility to deliver power to solar farms wherever and whenever it is most valuable.

“There’s a big difference between being in any one energy market, and being in all of the energy markets,” Berte told TechCrunch.

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Imo senatorial aspirant, Nwachukwu drags NDC to court over ticket denial  

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A Senatorial Aspirant, Isaac Nwachukwu, has dragged Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, before a Federal High Court Sitting in Owerri, Imo State, over the fallout of the party’s National Assembly primaries.

Nwachukwu, in a suit filed through his Counsel, Cajethan Oguzie, accused the party of denying him the Imo North senatorial ticket after emerging a consensus candidate and paying N5m for the nomination form.

The suit also disclosed that Nwachukwu had paid N20m for the support of the party, but his support was unexplainably reduced to N10m when the list of those who supported the party was published.

The NDC Senatorial Aspirant, in his prayers before the court, demanded that a declaration should be made that he is the consensus candidate of the party in the state with regard to the Imo North Senatorial Zone in the 2027 General election.

“A declaration that the first defendant, NDC, be restrained from fielding another candidate except the plaintiff in the General election into the Imo North Senatorial Zone as he is the consensus candidate for the said election.

“A declaration that the second defendant, INEC, be perpetually restrained from recognising and accepting the candidacy of another person except the plaintiff in the Imo North Senatorial election pending the determination of the matter,” the suit stated.

In an affidavit supporting the originating summons, Nwachukwu stated that he purchased the expression of interest form to aspire for the position for Imo North senatorial zone, a copy of which is attached in the suit already filed.

The NDC Senatorial Aspirant added that upon the purchase of the form, he made a monetary contribution in support of the party’s growth in the tune of N20m into the party’s FCMB account number through his Counsel, receipt also attached in the suit as an exhibit.

“The first sign of irregularity and no compliance with the NDC constitution and electoral act came up when the N20m I paid for party support was allocated to one of the aspirants for my Senatorial District by the name Matthew Omegara, and the N10m that Matthew Omegara paid for party support was allocated to me by the Screening Committee headed by Sam Egwu and Buba Galadimma.

” In compliance with NDC’s directives, I participated in the NDC screening exercise and was successfully cleared as an aspirant to participate in the primary election.

After my consensus candidacy was ratified, my name was shortlisted as a Candidate for Imo North district. A copy of the result is hereby annexed as Exhibit 1U5,” the affidavit added.

Nwachukwu alleged that his name was substituted with Omegara after he had been declared the winner of the primary election.

The Imo North Senatorial Aspirant claimed that the National leader of the party, Seriake Dickson, had summoned him for a meeting telling him that his candidacy was affected after a party chieftain from his state said he didn’t know him.

Among other demands, Nwachukwu is asking the court to order NDC to issue him a certificate as its candidate for the Imo North Senatorial District.

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ADC raises alarm over alleged membership forgery in Zamfara

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Supporters and members of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Anka and Talata Mafara Local Government Areas of Zamfara State have alleged attempts to manipulate the party’s membership records and card numbers ahead of internal political activities.
The allegation was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday in Gusau by Nura Rabiu Cibiki, Director of Media and Strategy, Campaign and Mobilisation Committee for Abdulrahaman Yahaya, an aspirant for the House of Representatives seat representing Anka/Talata Mafara Federal Constituency.

The group warned against any attempt to alter or duplicate legitimate membership figures, saying such actions could deepen tensions within the party in the constituency.

“We strongly oppose any move to manipulate or duplicate legitimate membership figures, warning that such actions would only worsen existing tensions within the party and the Anka/Talata Mafara Federal Constituency,” the statement said.

The supporters maintained that ADC members in Anka and Talata Mafara were aware of the party’s authentic membership strength and were prepared to protect the integrity of the party’s records.

The statement added that while justice may be delayed, the truth could not be denied.

Meanwhile, Yahaya has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Gusau challenging alleged irregularities in the party’s primary election process in the constituency.

The court has fixed June 23, 2026, for mention of the case.

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