KC Jean-Pierre

Comprehensive Summary of Today’s Solar Challenges & Opportunties

Reviewed: 09-02-18

Taming the Sun's singular purpose is to convince you of the necessity of investing in early-stage solar energy technologies, but in the process, Varun Sivaram delivers a simply-stated and comprehensive summary of the intertwined issues solar faces in scaling to a level that will deliver global carbon benefits. The audiobook needs to be listened to at 1.5x to get through this long book at a reasonable pace, and I can’t say I prefer Barry Abram’s narration, which delivers some of Sivaram’s summary assessments as overly incredulous and naïve. But the content makes this book worth the listen.

The second chapter - which sets out the stakes for a solar plateau mid-century - is a must-read for everyone in the energy industry; even oil & gas analysts will find their concerns fairly considered and addressed. Subsequent chapters you can probably pick & choose depending on your relative level of expertise. I enjoyed learning about the history of PV cell development, design & deployment of high voltage transmission lines, and networked energy storage strategies. But I found that even the chapters on solar business model development, financing, and rural solar mini-grids - where I have more direct experience - covered the key issues succinctly. At his best, Sivaram clearly links the need to push the envelope in technology, financial, and systemic energy innovation all at once so that solar can deliver on the goals we've implicitly set for it in demanding a low-carbon future. In other places, the primacy that he places on increased investment for academic R&D projects (Sivaram started out as a solar materials researcher) can seem repetitive and self-serving. I'd judge the weakest chapter to be the last one on policy solutions, which isn't framed so much as an area for potential innovation as one where we just need to put down more money (easier said than done). But this assessment could also be due to the fact that after 11 hours of listening, I was very ready for the book to be over! All in all, I'd recommend - correction, I already have recommended - this book as required skim reading for those working in energy issues, as it's a great primer on today's most relevant solar energy topics across a range of disciplines.

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