Advances in metabolic engineering offer potential for development of engineered microbial systems that capture solar energy. While research efforts have focused on plants and algae to produce renewable fuels, chemicals and biological feedstocks, the diversity of microbial systems may improve biotechnologies that transform sunlight into mechanical, chemical and electrical energy. In particular, incorporation of light-driven processes into non-photosynthetic organisms may boost production of industrial and fine chemicals by increasing metabolic capacity. We discuss how light-driven processes may be incorporated into non-photosynthetic microbes and highlight progress towards the introduction of light-driven proton pumping and anoxygenic photosynthesis. Finally, we report coupling of a light-driven process to electricity generation in a non-photosynthetic engineered bacterium.