Wireless energy transfer

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An artist's depiction of a solar satellite, which could send energy wirelessly to a space vessel or planetary surface.

Wireless energy transfer or wireless power transmission is the process that takes place in any system where electrical energy is transmitted from a power source to an electrical load, without interconnecting wires. Wireless transmission is useful in cases where instantaneous or continuous energy transfer is needed, but interconnecting wires are inconvenient, hazardous, or impossible.

While the physics are identical, wireless energy transfer is slightly different from wireless transmission for the purpose of telecommunications (the transferring of information), such as radio, where the signal-to-noise ratio, or the percentage of power received, becomes critical if it is too low to recover the signal successfully. With wireless energy transfer efficiency is the more important parameter.

The most common form of wireless power is carried out using induction, followed by electrodynamic induction. Other technologies for wireless power include those based upon microwaves and lasers.^[1][2]