Cessna Caravan used to transmit solar power to ground in energy test

Overview Energy, a Virginia-based startup, used a Cessna Caravan in Nov. 2025 to test transmitting solar energy from the sun to solar panels on the ground. This was the first demonstration of high-power wireless power transfer from any moving platform. Powering beaming is the process of transmitting energy over long distances using lasers or microwaves. The energy is converted into light, then converted back once it reaches its destination, according to the Naval Postgraduate School. Overview attached its laser and optical systems to a Cessna Caravan and flew at an altitude of over 5,000 meters. When flying overhead, the aircraft was able to deliver power to a set of standard solar panels through an eye-safe beam. By transferring energy to existing solar farms and panels, the system removes the need for additional infrastructure, according to Interesting Engineering. Overview revealed the test's success in Dec. 2025. "Not only is it the first optical power beaming from a moving platform at any substantial range or power," says Overview CEO Marc Berte to IEEE Spectrum, "but also it's the first time anyone's really done a power beaming thing where it's all of the functional pieces all working together. It's the same methodology and function that we will take to space and scale up in the long term." RELATED STORIES:Autoflight unveils world's first sea-air eVTOL vertiport solutionAviation community rises to provide relief to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa The goal of the company is to eventually use satellites in orbit to do the same process. Overview states that aiming from an aircraft is harder than aiming from a satellite due to turbulence and a higher angular velocity compared to the ground site. The next step in its testing plan is to send a low Earth orbit (LEO) pilot in 2028 that demonstrates the full system in space. Its final step will be to send geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellites into space in 2029-2030, where Overview claims they will be in the sun 99% of the time. The amount of power sent during the test was modest, according to Aerotime, but validated the core elements of Overview's system.