An energy beam, also known as a power transfer beam, transfer beam, or a remote power feed, was a beam projection of energy. Transporters converted objects into an energy beam and back to the original pattern again. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"; VOY: "Faces") Holodecks also created matter from an energy beam using pre-programmed patterns. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")
Applications[]
In 2254, after Captain Christopher Pike was abducted by the Talosians on Talos IV, the engineering deck on the USS Enterprise was rigged to transmit ship's power from orbit to the planetary surface, where an away team used it to power a laser cannon in an attempt to blast through a metal door. While the door was breached, the Talosians maintained an illusion that the attempt had failed. (TOS: "The Cage")
Starship-mounted phasers could be configured to deliver a non-destructive energy beam to transfer power away from the ship. A beam of this type was used, in 2364, when the crew of the USS Enterprise-D revived the space vessel lifeform captured by the Bandi of Deneb IV. A phaser beam modified for power transfer was used again in 2370, when the Enterprise-D attempted to stabilize the weather control system of the Caldos colony on Caldos. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint", "Sub Rosa")
In the original version of "Encounter at Farpoint" the modified phaser beam was emitted from near the captain's yacht. This effects mistake was corrected in the remastered version of the episode. In "Sub Rosa", the beam was emitted from the main phaser array. It was depicted as reddish-orange in color.
Also in 2364, a remote power feed was used by the Enterprise-D from orbit to power up life support on the Velara III terraforming facility down on the planet surface, after it had been completely powered down. (TNG: "Home Soil")
In 2368, on a rescue mission to aid a Romulan science ship, the USS Enterprise-D sent out a power transfer beam from the ships aft tractor beam emitter to bring the Romulan ship back to power. The Romulans on board were worried that the Enterprise crew would discover their interphase generator and created a muon feedback loop intended to destroy the Enterprise. The attempted sabotage was prevented by Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge and Ensign Ro Laren who were able to warn Captain Jean-Luc Picard in time. (TNG: "The Next Phase")
In 2369, the crew of USS Enterprise-D used an energy beam projected from the ships navigational deflector in an attempt to transfer power to a Romulan Warbird in distress. (TNG: "Timescape")
Energy beam as a weapon[]
Some types of energy beams could be used as weapons. In 2366, the aliens who abducted several species for study used an energy beam as a painful punishment device for their captives. (TNG: "Allegiance")
The armaments of the Voth city ship, the temporal incursion beam of the Krenim weapon ship, and the cascading biogenic pulse used by Shinzon on the Scimitar were all different types of energy beams. (VOY: "Distant Origin", "Year of Hell"; Star Trek Nemesis)