Phoenix-based Stirling Energy Systems has received its first big round of funding, putting the concentrating solar power company closer to reaching its goal of generating up to 1,750 megawatts of electricity in the deserts of Southern California.

The company pulled in $100 million from Dublin, Ireland's NTR, a developer and operator in renewable energy and sustainable waste management, with NTR getting a 52 percent stake in Stirling Energy with its investment.

Stirling Energy, which previously received funding from angel investors as well as government grants, already has a pilot plant set up at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, with six concentrating solar power dishes.

Bruce Osborn, president and CEO of Stirling Energy, told Cleantech.com that the Sandia location has given the company the experience it needs to make the move to commercialization.

"You get the sandblasting, you get the big winds that come in, you get lightning strikes, hailstorm — we had record snow a year ago — five thousand pounds of snow on the dishes."

Unlike traditional solar thermal, which uses mirrors to heat a liquid, which in turn is piped over to a steam turbine, Stirling Energy makes the power right on the dish.

Take a look Stirling Energy's dishes here >>

The company's 25 kilowatt SunCatcher dishes are 38 feet in diameter, covered with 82 curved glass mirrors. The system tracks the sun and focuses the solar heat onto the heater head of a Stirling engine, mounted right on the dish.

Using hydrogen, the heat and subsequent cooling off of the gas powers the engine.

"When you heat it, it pushes the piston, when you cool it, it contracts," said Osborn. "Then we just very quickly and efficiently alternately heat and cool to expand and contract, expand and contract."

"You're not burning the gas, you're not consuming it, it's all closed-system," he said. For cooling, Osborn said they "run it through a radiator, much like your automobile."

The system pairs up two technologies which have been around for quite some time.

The Stirling engine was invented in Scotland almost two centuries ago, meant to be a safer alternative to steam engines.

As for solar thermal, that dates back as far as seventh century B.C., with people said to have used burning mirrors to light fires.

Stirling Energy plans to use its burning mirrors to supply power to customers of Rosemead, Calif.-based Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.

Southern California Edison is a subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), while San Diego Gas & Electric is part of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE).

Stirling Energy has 20 year power purchase agreements with both utilities.

The company isn't alone in the Stirling solar field. Kennewick, Wash.-based Infinia grabbed its own round of funding in February (see Infinia lands $50 million in new financing).

But Osborn believes there's room for everyone in the renewable energy game.

"I think their focus right now is on a smaller one to three kilowatt system. I think they're looking at retail and competing against photovoltaic."

"I think we're actually going after different markets."

In addition, companies like Palo Alto, Calif.-based Ausra are developing utility scale traditional solar thermal (see Solar thermal could supply most of the U.S. grid, says Ausra).

"I think there's room for all of us," he said. "It's not like it's a zero-sum game or a scarcity type thing."

The project for Southern California Edison, dubbed Solar One, will be located in the Mojave Desert, and is expected to produce 500 MW of electricity in its first phase, later expanding up to 850 MW.

Solar Two, pumping out power for San Diego Gas & Electric, will go up in the Imperial Valley. It's slated to generate 300 MW of electricity in its first phase, with a second phase expected to give it a boost up to 900 MW.

Each site will cover over 5,000 acres, with Solar One using 20,000 to 34,000 solar dish Stirling systems, and Solar Two accounting for 12,000 to 36,000 systems.

Osborn said both projects would feed directly into the grid, providing peak power to the California utilities.

And Stirling Energy has partners in place for the manufacturing needed to put together all of those dishes.

"We're working with Linamar, they're located in the Detroit area. They build engines for many people," said Osborn. "They don't need to build a new factory, they've already got capacity."

"In fact, the volumes that we're talking, which is high volume for us, for what we're doing, is really low to medium volume for them."

Stirling Energy is also working with Schuff Steel, a subsidiary of Phoenix neighbor Schuff International (OTC: SHFK), for making the dish structures.

"They are looking at doing some specialized work for making this, because it's a little different from some of the other things."

Osborn said he expects the first commercial Stirling Energy systems to come off the production line in the latter part of 2009.

Once all the permits and project financing is in place, the company is looking at installing the dishes in early 2010.