The U.S. Department of Energy has opened its checkbook for concentrating solar power (CSP). The government agency will be letting loose of $60 million over the next five years to support research and development of thermal-based solar technologies. The move is part of the Bush Administration's Solar America Initiative, which aims to make solar competitive with other electricity sources by 2015.

The funding will be available to industry and educational institutions for between 10 and 25 projects in total. $10 million will be budgeted for each of fiscal years 2008 and 2009. In all, private cost sharing could push the funding total to over 75 million buckaroos.

DOE's announcement comes on the heels of a $13.7 million allocation for university research in photovoltaics and $5.4 million for its 2008 Solar Cities.

Concentrating solar power, using gathered sunray heat to power energy-makers, comes in 3 varieties: parabolic trough, dish/engine, and power tower. Parabolic troughs use curved mirrors to heat oil, powering a steam turbine. The dish-engine setup uses a concentrating dish to heat a fluid and power a small internal engine, with the energy used to run a generator.

Now that you know the technical break-down, here's my take. The trough system sounds like it belongs on a farm feeding pigs, but I'm sure it works just fine. The dish engine has a geeky tinkerers appeal, especially the old timey stirling engine. Still, my fave is definitely the power tower. It has a cool name, it runs on molten salt, and looks kinda like a death ray.