Researchers Transmit Energy With A Laser In ‘Historic’ Power-Beaming Demonstration

“First the first time, hundreds of watts of power were wirelessly transmitted hundreds of meters , with an integrated system that ensured the safety of operators and bystanders,” writes an anonymous Slashdot reader — sharing a new press release from the U.S. Naval Research Lab. “This could be the first step towards drones that never have to land…” According to the Navy, the power transmitted came from “an electrical outlet in the building”: On one end of the of the testing facility — one of the largest test facilities for model ships in the world — the receiver was converting the laser energy to DC power, which an inverter was turning into AC power to run lights, several laptops, and a coffeemaker that the organizers were using to make coffee for the attendees, or ‘laser lattes’… At NRL, Paul Jaffe, an electronics engineer with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has been conducting space-based solar energy research for more than a decade… According to Jaffe, power beaming could also make possible the transmission of power from solar-energy-collecting satellites in space to the ground, wherever it’s needed… Imagine using it to send power to locations that are remote, hard to reach or lack infrastructure, he suggested.