...
Each 40-foot-tall dish can produce 25,000 watts — enough power for about 16 homes.

The technology’s promise is to make power more cheaply than by burning fossil fuel, said Sean Gallagher, a spokesman for Tessera, the Stirling affiliate building solar farms.

The technology, called a Stirling engine, is far from new. It was invented in 1816, but has never been put into widespread use.

Stirling Energy Systems has been working on using the technology in a solar application for years and has set a record for efficiency, turning 31 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity in a test.

The biggest test so far involves 60 dishes that went into operation this year in Peoria, Ariz. The developers want to begin installing the first of 30,000 in the California desert by December.

Stirling Energy Systems, largely owned by Irish conglomerate NTR, is betting that better engineering and the use of automotive mass-manufacturing methods will make the Stirling engines viable.

..

source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/26/rush-is-on-for-desert-solar-project/