In a test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) programme sets a new benchmark in wireless energy transmission with the POWER Receiver Array Demo (PRAD). The system successfully transmitted 800 watts of power across 8.6 km (5.3 miles) for 30 seconds—more than tripling the distance of previous efforts, which had peaked at 230 watts over 1.7 km. Overall, the demonstration successfully delivered over one megajoule of energy.
PRAD is integrated with a newly developed compact-aperture receiver designed by Teravec Technologies, in collaboration with Packet Digital and the Rochester Institute of Technology. The design directs the laser beam through a narrow aperture onto a parabolic mirror, which reflects and spreads the beam across multiple photovoltaic (solar) cells, enabling efficient energy capture with minimal loss—an essential innovation for scalable wireless energy transmission systems.
This breakthrough challenges long-held assumptions about the feasibility and range of such technologies, proving that long-distance wireless energy transmission is more achievable than previously believed. With both the transmitter and receiver located on the ground, the beam had to traverse the densest layer of the atmosphere—one of the most challenging conditions—successfully validating the system’s real-world robustness and reliability.
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