The power purchase agreement (PPA) is an important indicator that a proposed renewable energy project is worth financing. Two companies have signed an unusual PPA where the producer and the off-taker represent developing technologies that, if successful, point the way to new paths of solar power development.
Troy, Michigan-based Virtus Solis Technologies and Chicago-based Brae Systems have announced a 20-year PPA wherein the former will supply 100 MW of orbital solar baseload power, delivering 876,000 MWh annually for the latter’s underwater datacenter. The pioneers have yet to deploy the infrastructure necessary to realize the deal, however both see the PPA as an important step toward bringing their respective visions to fruition.
Virtus Solis is developing a constellation of space-based solar generation and transmission stations that will deliver energy to ground receivers in the form of microwaves. There are a growing number of companies working to put solar collection in space to supply energy to users on the ground and in orbit. Proposals range from satellites in low-earth orbit transmitting energy with lasers to kilometer-scale stations in geosynchronous orbit sending power with microwaves.
John Bucknell, co-founder and CEO of Virtus Solis, told pv magazine USA that his company aims to put its solar stations in highly elliptical Molniya orbits that will provide coverage in northern latitudes. With an orbital period of 12 hours, a given station spends 8 of those in view of power receivers on the ground. Three units would provide full-time coverage.
“We picked Molniya because you can get reusable rockets up there and get them all the way back,” Bucknell said. “Why would you take a reusable rocket and fly it to geostationary orbit and then leave it there? Everything that we did, including picking consumer electronics as our technology base, was to get to these very low costs.”
The Virtus Solis business plan is banking heavily on the progress of SpaceX’s Starship Superheavy launch vehicle, which successfully achieved low-Earth orbit for the first time on September 28. The high payload and reusability of the Starship is key to keeping launch costs down.
Bucknell, who prior to forming Virtus Solis was involved in the development of SpaceX’s Raptor rocket engines, says orbital access is just one of the factors that is bringing space-based solar power within practical reach. Space-based solar has been a topic of conversation for decades, but the enabling technologies are only just becoming available.
“We’ve got 240 parameters in our techno-economic model that drove us into this configuration architecture,” Bucknell said.
Some of those parameters address the in-orbit assembly required to construct a solar collector. Bucknell says the company is working with a half-dozen vendors to manufacture an appropriate PV cell, which will probably be a perovskite-based design. Modules will be hexagonal and “snap-fit” into place with the aid of a space tug satellite.
In terms power transmission and reception, Bucknell says the microwave energy reaching the ground is about equal to a mobile phone. Receiving stations are envisioned as having the footprint of utility-scale solar arrays. The receivers are about 80% transparent to sunlight, so the facilities would support agrivoltaics. The receivers have the form factor of a First Solar Series 7 panel, so existing arrays can be repowered for space solar reception.
As for the off-taker in the PPA, Brae Systems is working to deploy modular datacenters in marine environments with the intention of simplifying cooling and easing land restrictions. The first receiving station will be constructed in Illinois, co-located with a pilot datacenter.
“AI workloads require an unprecedented leap in both energy availability and thermal efficiency,” said Vishnu Indukuri, Chief Executive Officer of Brae Systems. “Securing a direct 20-year supply of firm, clean power from Virtus Solis ensures our GPU infrastructure operates with predictable power costs and zero carbon emissions, completely insulated from terrestrial grid curtailment.”
The newly signed contract includes an option for Brae to take up to 250 MW (with Virtus Solis delivering 2.19 million MWh annually) within three years of initial commercial operations, representing a multi-billion-dollar lifetime contract commitment.
Bucknell says Virtus Solis is planning to fly a pilot solar plant in about 24 months. This will be a 100-kW system deployed in low-Earth orbit. While not commercial scale, the pilot will allow federal regulators – and the public – to see and evaluate an operating space-based power plant. More immediately, Virtus Solis is planning a public demonstration of its microwave transmission system in March 2027.
According to Bucknell, space-based solar power has to potential to bring energy to everybody on Earth. Power stations can be launched into Molniya orbits that serve southern latitudes as well.
“I wanted to build a business in an energy vertical that would enable prosperity for all,” he said. “We at Virtus Solis would describe this as what humanity needs.”
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].
Comments
Please login to comment
Friday, October 23, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, October 12, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 8, 2026
11:30 am – 12:30 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, October 26, 2026
10:30 am – 11:30 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 7, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
You have no items in your basket.
