Desertec

Investors, take heed: The market for desert solar farms is poised for breakaway growth.

That's the main finding of a new report by Swiss bank UBS on the state of concentrating solar thermal power (CSP).

"The CSP market is on the point of taking off. After a long period of stagnation, the market is now evolving more dynamically. Interestingly, for regions in the sun belt, CSP offers similar opportunities as large offshore wind farms in Europe," the report says.

UBS says that growth rates of 35 percent over the next few years could add 20,000 MW of solar farms by 2020. Current installed capacity is just around 500 MW.

The report, "Solar Thermal – A New Power Giant is Awakening," does not chart any new territory, but it's distinctly clear about the opportunities that lie ahead for potential investors.

A consortium of 20 blue chip German firms has thrown its weight behind the gigantic Desertec Sahara solar plan.

A new study helps explain why: The mega project could help spawn 240,000 new green jobs in Germany and deliver up to $2 trillion in profits to companies by 2050, according to the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.

Desertec was launched in 2007 by the German association of the Club of Rome. Its architects seek to spread a supergrid of concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP) across a 6,500 square-mile stretch of North African desert to eventually power most of Europe.

According to the Wuppertal report, exporting the CSP technologies to Africa and other desert solar hotspots would help German manufacturers build on their already strong solar market share.

CSP "offers great opportunities for German plant builders," the authors wrote. They reveal the nation's likely winners:

The most ambitious solar power plan ever conceived may be coming into some serious cash.

A group of 20 German firms is forming a consortium this July to begin raising $555 billion for the much-discussed Afro-European solar research project known as Desertec, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung revealed this week.

Desertec seeks to transform Saharan Africa into a solar hub for Europe by constructing a supergrid of concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP) on 6,500 square miles of North African desert. They claim their scheme could eventually meet much of the continent's electricity needs.

Half a trillion dollars in funding would certainly be a tremendous start in that direction. In fact, that kind of financing would be enough to power 15 percent of the continent by 2050.

Talk about a boost for Big Solar.

The news of the colossal cash infusion is grabbing global headlines. And it's no wonder. The firms involved are some of the heaviest hitters in Europe: insurance giant Munich Re, German engineering leader Siemens, Deutsche Bank, energy companies RWE and E.on, among others.