The Energy Switch: How Companies and Customers Are Transforming the Electrical Grid and the Future of Power

by Peter Kelly-Detwiler

The energy industry is changing, and it’s far more than just solar panels. Electric vehicles look to overtake gasoline-powered cars within our lifetimes, wind farms are popping up in unlikely places, traders are transforming energy into a commodity, and supercomputers are crunching vast amounts of data in nanoseconds while helping to keep our energy grids secure from hackers.

The way humans produce, distribute and consume power will be cleaner, cheaper, and infinitely more complex within the next decade. In The Energy Switch, leading energy industry expert Peter Kelly-Detwilerlooks at all aspects of the how we got here, where we are going, and the implications for all of us in our daily lives.

Kelly-Detwiler takes readers to the frontlines of the energy revolution. Meet Steve Collins, an executive from Commercial Development Corporation, the company that blew up two $570-million-dollar concrete cooling towers to create a staging ground for the new $70 billion U.S. offshore wind industry; Rob Threlkeld, a General Motors executive who convinced the auto giant to sign multiple 20-year renewable energy contracts worth hundreds of millions; Kevin McAlpin, a Texas homeowner who buys the power for his home on the electricity spot market – where prices can soar from less than one cent a kilowatthour to $9.00 over the course of a single day; Dr. Kristin Persson, who oversees a supercomputer that can process data at 30 quadrillion calculations per second, in the quest for better renewable energy and battery technologies; and John Davis, a Texas rancher who can keep his land intact, with help from the royalty payments from seven turbines spinning on his range.

Energy creation and distribution has driven society’s progress for centuries. Today, people are increasingly aware that it is imperative that humans move towards a cleaner, digitized, and democratized energy economy. The Energy Switch is about that multi-trillion dollar transformation, told from the perspective of those leading us to that bright future.

Genres: Nonfiction

295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 15, 2021

Reviews

[Alexander Eckinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was sooo good until chapter 7, on solar. The two wind chapters after that were alright. This book shines in its discussion of electricity as a commodity. Kelly-Detwiler's energy markets background is clearly vast. I wish he had spent more time here; on subjects like the markets run by RTOs and capacity auctions. I increasingly think these things are just as important as all the incremental gains made on generation r&d, if not more. So why not spend more time there? It's clearly his expertise!

But the sections on energy storage systems, solar, corporate governance, gas turbines, and EVs are poorly written, too engaged in personal narrative, and repetitive. Each of these chapters has an important nugget or two, but not enough to justify the droning on.

Anyway, I would recommend the first 5 chapters. The ghost of The Prize haunts my reviews of energy books... everything pales in comparison.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've seen PKD speak and he has an easy-going seminar style that belies his decades of experience as an electric power insider. In his first book, he delivers an easy-reading overview of the subject of the energy transition. The book only stumbles when it becomes clear that he had much bigger plans for this narrative that were derailed by COVID. I sure hope he releases a revised and more polished version or second book, there is definitely enough material to cover and it's changing fast. We all benefit from experts like PKD who can speak and write clearly on an emergent, exciting, and supremely complicated topic. I read this with an interest in decarbonization of the electric power supply, but I came away with a better appreciation of many more factors that will push and pull this giant machine into the next century.

[Mamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book with excellent, compelling information, especially (but not only) for people new to the energy industry like me. It can be slow at times (like a lot of nonfiction books), but it is a worthwhile read—very applicable in our quickly-changing world. I found the section on EVs particularly interesting; it answered a lot of my questions and considerations for buying an EV as my next car. The more informed each of us is about the climate crisis and energy transition, thanks to books like this, the more adept we’ll be in moving forward as a society.

[Andy Hunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent primer on the variety of renewable resources in play to get to carbon free energy. Does a great job explaining the foundations of our energy grid, it's current limitations, and how dramatically that grid is changing. Paints a hopeful picture we can ultimately get there with a great deal of innovation, initiative, entrepreneurship.

[Jae · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cool little book to get you familiar with the status quo of the electricity sector in the United States. A good introduction book for anyone works in the energy sector (me included!). Though I would like to see the author offer more unique insights regarding the challenges and struggles of the energy switch rather than the common opinions where you hear all over the place.

[Richard N Plough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential energy primer

Energy - how we source it and use it - is at an inflection point. Significant change is occurring now. The Energy Switch will help many to grasp the change in all things energy and imagine the consequences. A change that is dramatically increasing at an increasing rate.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit dense and kind of a lot of stuff I’d already learned in the sustainable energy systems class at UVA, but overall quite informative and is practical analysis of the current state and future of our energy system as we transition to renewables/ DERs/ smart grids.