Solaren

What Solaren does

Solaren Corporation is a privately held, Manhattan Beach, California-based energy and aerospace company developing space solar power (SSP) plants. The company's core technology collects solar energy in geostationary Earth orbit via Solar Power Satellites (SPS), converts the electricity to radio frequency (RF) energy, beams it to Earth-based Ground Receive Stations (GRS), and converts the RF directly into grid-deliverable electricity. The system is designed to deliver 24/7 dispatchable baseload power, with claimed zero CO2 emissions per MWh, 8–13% of the waste heat of conventional baseload plants, and no water consumption for thermal cooling. The architecture rests on a patented ultra-lightweight SSP satellite design reported to be an order of magnitude lighter than prior gigawatt-class concepts, with corresponding patents granted in the United States, European Union, China, Japan, India, Canada, Russia, and Brazil.

The planned product portfolio comprises a megawatt-class SSP prototype targeted for mid-2020s launch, a first commercial 250 MW plant intended to deliver baseload electricity to California, and follow-on production plants at 250–2,000 MW per Ground Receive Station. Supporting groups include an SSP Plant Command and Control Center, an Electricity Sales Group, and an Advanced SSP Technology Group pursuing improvements in solar cells, solid-state power amplifiers, ground receive antennas, ultralight structures, and thermal management. The business model is to own and operate SSP plants and sell baseload electricity under long-term (15–25 year) power purchase agreements (PPAs) with electric utilities and government customers at wholesale renewable pricing plus a premium for assured supply.

Solaren is pre-revenue and operates with 1–10 employees. A first-of-kind PPA with Pacific Gas & Electric, originally targeted for 2016–2018 delivery, was mutually terminated in 2015 due to inability to secure commercial financing following the banking crisis. Space solar power has been certified by the California Energy Commission as a Renewable Portfolio Standard-eligible solar resource, and the company was approved as a California solar energy provider. Cumulative disclosed funding is approximately $5 million, including a $2.5 million Series D initial closing in Q1 2023 and a related SEC Form D exempt offering of $5,004,000. Leadership includes Founder/Chairman/President/CEO Gary T. Spirnak (formerly Boeing Satellite Systems, Hughes, US Air Force) and Co-Founder/Chief Engineer Dr. James E. Rogers (formerly Hughes Aircraft, four spacecraft patents), with Michael R. Peevey (former CPUC President and former SCE President) joining the Board of Directors in June 2023.

Name

Solaren

Legal name

Solaren Corporation

Website

https://solarenspace.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2006

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Solaren Corporation is a privately held Manhattan Beach, California-based aerospace and energy company developing space solar power plants that collect solar energy in geostationary orbit and beam it as radio frequency to ground stations for 24/7 baseload electricity sales to utilities and governments under long-term PPAs; the company is pre-revenue with a first 250 MW commercial plant targeted within the decade.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Space Solar Power Generation

NAICS

Solar Electric Power Generation (221114)

SIC

Electric Services (4911), Cogeneration Services & Small Power Producers (4991)

akta.pro primary industry

PV Balance of System (BOS) & Electrical Infrastructure (Inverters, Transformers, Cabling, Substations) (EUACAGAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Solar Design, Engineering & Performance Software (PV Modeling, Digital Twins, Monitoring) (EUAMABAH)

Keywords

• Space solar power
• Baseload electricity generation
• Radio frequency power beaming
• Satellite solar arrays
• Renewable energy systems

Headquarters

HQ city

Manhattan Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Baseload Electricity Sales via PPAs: Solaren generates revenue by selling baseload (24/7) electricity to utility and government customers through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) typically lasting 15-25 years. Electricity pricing is typically wholesale renewable pricing plus a premium for long-term assured supply. The company owns and operates its space solar power plants.
2. Space Solar Power Plant Ownership and Operations: Solaren's business model is to own and operate its space solar power plants and sell baseload electricity to utility and government customers. The company retains ownership of the solar power satellites and ground receive stations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Solaren designs, develops, integrates, launches, and plans to operate Space Solar Power (SSP) plants. Solar Power Satellites deployed in geostationary Earth orbit collect solar energy continuously (24/7), convert it to radio frequency (RF) energy, and beam it to Ground Receive Stations on Earth where RF is directly converted to electricity and delivered through the grid. The company sells this baseload renewable electricity to utilities and government customers via long-term (15–25 year) Power Purchase Agreements.

Product overview

Solaren is an energy and aerospace company developing space solar power (SSP) plants. The company offers a unified system comprised of three core components: Solar Power Satellites (SPS) deployed in geostationary Earth orbit that collect solar energy 24/7, Ground Receive Stations (GRS) that convert RF power beams to electricity for delivery to utilities, and an SSP Plant Command and Control Center for operations management. Supporting these is the Electricity Sales Group for long-term power purchase agreements and the Advanced SSP Technology Group for R&D on efficiency improvements. The company plans a 250 MW SSP Plant as its first commercial demonstration, with follow-on gigawatt-class Production plants planned.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Space Solar Power (SSP) Plant An integrated Space Solar Power plant that collects solar energy in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) 24 hours a day, converts it to radio frequency (RF) power, beams it to a Ground Receive Station on Earth, and directly converts the RF beam to electricity for grid delivery; operated by Solaren for baseload power supply to electric utilities and government customers under 15–25 year Power Purchase Agreements.
• Baseload Electricity Supply via Long-Term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) Long-term (typically 15–25 year) Power Purchase Agreement contracts to deliver clean, zero-carbon, renewable baseload electricity 24/7 to electric utilities or government customers, priced at wholesale renewable rates plus a premium for long-term assured supply.
• Solar Power Satellite (SPS) The orbital segment of the SSP plant deployed in geostationary Earth orbit that collects the Sun's energy via solar arrays, converts the electricity to RF energy, and transmits the RF power beam to the Ground Receive Station; owned and operated by Solaren as part of its integrated SSP plant offering.
• Ground Receive Station (GRS) Earth-based receiving station that collects the RF power beam transmitted from the Solar Power Satellite, directly converts RF energy to DC electricity without thermoelectric conversion, and delivers it to the customer via the power grid interconnect; planned capacities of 250–2,000 MW per station.
• SSP Plant Command and Control Center Secure operations facility that controls Solar Power Satellite systems, manages electricity delivery from the Ground Receive Station to customer delivery points, and monitors the end-to-end energy conversion chain from space to Earth; integral to Solaren's owned-and-operated SSP plant delivery model.

Quantifiable outcome

• 0 pounds of carbon dioxide per MWh vs. 1,000-2,000 lbs for fossil fuel plants
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015Solaren and PG&E signed the world's first power purchase agreement for space solar generated electricity, with delivery originally planned for 2016-2018 timeframe. The contract was mutually forgone in 2015 after Solaren was unable to obtain necessary commercial financing following the worldwide banking crisis. PG&E is one of California's largest electric utilities.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• PowerSat Corporation: Historical US-based space solar power startup that pursued orbital solar collectors and wireless power transmission to Earth. Closest historical direct peer to Solaren in attempting commercial SSP, sharing target customers (utilities) and a comparable RF beaming architecture approach.
• Virtus Solis (now Space Solar): UK-based startup developing space-based solar power with wireless power beaming to ground stations. Targets commercial SSP for 24/7 baseload power generation and shares Solaren's wireless RF beaming concept and utility-scale PPA go-to-market.

Emerging players

• Aetherflux: US space solar power startup founded around 2024 pursuing LEO-based solar collection with infrared laser transmission to ground. More recent entrant in the SSP category pursuing a different transmission modality (optical vs. RF) but comparable orbital collection and utility offtake model.
• Sunrun: US residential and commercial solar-plus-storage provider. Comparable in monetizing solar via long-duration subscription-like customer contracts but serves distributed rather than utility-scale baseload markets.

Broad incumbents

• First Solar: Large-scale US thin-film solar manufacturer and utility-scale solar project developer. Comparable in being a utility-scale solar developer, but terrestrial PV focused; useful benchmark for the renewable baseload competitor set Solaren must beat on cost and dispatchability.
• NextEra Energy Resources: Largest US renewable energy developer and operator with deep utility-scale solar and wind portfolio. Comparable go-to-market and customer set (IOUs signing long-term PPAs) but operates on a proven terrestrial model, making it the dominant incumbent Solaren must displace for utility capex dollars.
• Constellation Energy: Largest US operator of nuclear and fossil baseload generation, selling 24/7 dispatchable electricity via long-term contracts. Closest direct incumbent in the baseload PPA market Solaren targets for displacing coal, gas, and nuclear generation.
• Northrop Grumman: Major US defense and aerospace prime that has built and demonstrated prototype SSP technologies (Sandia/NRL reference designs) with deep GEO satellite and RF beaming heritage. The most credible well-capitalized aerospace peer in the SSP technology category.

Others

• Shoals Technologies Group: Supplier of balance-of-system components (cabling, combiner boxes, power electronics) for utility-scale solar plants. Comparable on the BOS hardware layer that Solaren's ground receive stations will require; potential supply chain partner or capability benchmark.
• Rocket Lab USA: US small and medium-lift launch provider and on-orbit spacecraft builder. Adjacent enabling player whose launch and satellite bus capabilities represent critical supply chain dependencies for Solaren's deployment roadmap.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/solaren-corp

Compliance10 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Solaren