- This is a very clearly written and enlightening book. It's Energy 101. A compulsive read for anybody interested in Australia's never-ending electricity, energy and climate crisis debate. Warren is not a politician or environmental activist but a highly experienced player and regulator in our energy industry over many years.
- There are fascinating chapters on renewables and climate change; how electricity is generated and supplied through national mechanisms; why prices have aggressively increased over the last decade, our rooftop solar energy obsession; the future of our coal power stations; the rapidly growing wind and solar industries; and others.
- Warren thoroughly dissects Finkel and the NEG, and savagely condemns conservative politicians for mindlessly abandoning these effective options on the pretext that they privilege, or even legitimise, ‘renewables’. They've indulged in a ‘catastrophic policy fail’. ‘Renewables generation is now a mature technology...targets or commitments should be abolished...they [are] redundant’. The marketplace is the powerful enabler. Commercial realities are in play and must be allowed to play out by governments.
- ‘The need to ‘firm’ renewables is the big electricity policy challenge of the 21st century’. The baseload inflexibility of coal-fired power stations and nuclear reactors make them unsuitable as technologies to firm large-scale intermittent generation.
- He returns to difficult concepts a number of times as the book progresses, deepening our understanding. (But often the constant and needless repetitions means a decent editor went missing).
- He's pro gas, as it can provide flexible backup. ‘We need to stop demonising gas. Gas is a renewables enabler. We will need it to support the high-renewables grid we are building right now.‘ (He doesn’t mention the impact on agriculture or the environment unfortunately, but leaves us with the firm impression that political, anti-gas mining decisions, particularly by the Andrews government in Victoria, will need eventually to be reversed).
- Incredibly, there's no mention of Adani (or the Galilee Basin) throughout the book, not even in the index. Because Warren considers it irrelevant to the far bigger issues. He's a hard-headed realist, driven only by reason and common sense. ‘Electricity doesn’t work so well if it’s turned into a popularity contest’.
- The book could have been improved with some charts and tables, just to visually clarify a lot of the extremely valuable information provided. Nevertheless the arguments are clear and lucidly presented, and the author's talent for arresting similes makes even difficult concepts come vividly to life.
- And exceptionally good read.
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