in·vid·i·ous  (n-vd-s)adj.1. Tending to rouse ill will, animosity, or resentment: invidious accusations.2. Containing or implying a slight; discriminatory: invidious distinctions.3. Envious.

Heh, exactly.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

That is kind of the wrong question: it is pursued by the existing big producers. Even if you have new producers tagging along, building their own CSP plants next to RWE's and E.on's, that isn't likely to change the power situation. You'd have to first keep them away for an option not giving power to the existing big producers.

all we'd need is the infrastructure

Do you mean, an infrastructure not funded by the installers of CSP plants (but the EU/ that intergovernmental grid operator)? That way, it may work; even if the money may be better spent on off-shore grids or mine shaft pumbing stations. But, if the plant builders have to give the bulk of funding, then you'll need lots of CSP plants to justify the investment, and that shall be difficult with new entrants with limited capital.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

Mouchout

By August 1866, Mouchot had developed the first parabolic trough solar collector[1], which was presented to the emperor Napoleon III in Paris. Mouchot continued development and increased the scale of his solar experiments. The publication of his book on solar energy, Le Chaleur Solaire et les Applications Industrielles (1869), coincided with the unveiling of the largest solar steam engine he had yet built. This engine was displayed in Paris until the city fell under siege during the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, and was not found after the siege ended.

In September 1872, Mouchot received financial assistance from the General Council of Indre-et-Loire to install an experimental solar generator at the Tours library. He presented a paper on the generator to the Academy of Sciences on 4 October 1875, and in December of the same year he presented to the Academy a device he claimed would, in optimal sunshine, provide a steam flow of 140 liters per minute. Later the following year he sought permission from the ministry to take leave from his teaching position in order to develop an engine for the Universal Exhibition of 1878[2], and in January 1877 obtained a mission and a grant for the purchase of materials and execution of his solar engines in French Algeria, where sunlight was in abundance. The director of science missions recommended Mouchot to the Governor of Algeria, stressing the importance of his mission to France, "for science and for the glory of the University".

Friends of mine from the late 70's wrote a book on the history of solar energy dating back to the Greeks and Romans.  A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology, published 1980.

from an interview on ABC.

John Perlin: The Europeans and North Americans were working on the first seamless information highway which was the telegraph. They were cabling from continent to content for example, and they were using selenium as a testing device, and what they found was that selenium would be a great testing device when it was covered, but when sunlight reached it, its conductivity changed tremendously, and so that excited all of Europe and they began experimenting with selenium and light, and they found out in 1876 that if you shine some light on selenium, you would produce an electrical current.