Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com

As the economic and environmental costs of traditional power generation rapidly increase, and as so-called concentrated solar power (CSP) technology “dramatically” improves, a CSP-dominant utility-scale solar power industry will emerge in the coming years, according to Merriman Curhan Ford, the investment banking firm.

CSP is technology that uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight in order to provide a better heat source for turning water into steam. The steam is then used to run the turbines of a power plant, producing large amounts of “clean” electricity.

In a new report, the Wall Street firm concludes that, in the U.S., a CSP-dominant market for utility-scale solar power could grow to $2.2 billion by 2010 and reach $12 billion by 2025.

The report notes that more than $30 billion in investment reportedly has been proposed specifically for CSP plants to be constructed over the next several years, and that as much as $200 billion may be invested globally through 2020, resulting in the deployment of up to 20 gigawatts (GW) of CSP-derived solar power. The report concludes that “because of the promise of lower cost and the present reality of zero emissions and unlimited supply, CSP has the potential for exponential growth over the next several years.”

To be sure, the report takes note of potential problems, namely ongoing issues in the credit and project financing markets, but concludes these will be short-term. “We believe investment in CSP projects from public and private sources is building momentum, despite recent (short-term) concerns over the credit and project financing markets.”

The report lists a number of public companies involved in concentrated photovoltaics, including: Emcore Corp.; Boeing Co. (through its Spectrolab unit); Spire Corp.; Solar Systems Inc. and Arima EcoEnergy.