Books

Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon

Second Edition

Jenny Chase | 2023

Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon introduces financial concepts through a lively history of the solar industry, and cuts through the main areas of mystique and misinformation about solar technology and projects. With extensive experience in answering questions from clients in the solar, finance and energy industries, Chase focuses on the practical and financial aspects of solar power, making this book suitable for those wanting to work in clean energy or who have a strong interest in the subject, particularly those without a business background. Since the first edition was published in 2019, solar capacity has only grown bigger and cheaper, opening up new markets. Most significantly, Russia invaded Ukraine, igniting an energy crisis across the world which made countries glad of any renewable energy capacity they had built, as well as amplifying calls for a diversified and resilient global supply chain for renewable energy components. This second edition of Solar Power Finance Without the Jargon is considerably more detailed and optimistic about batteries and hydrogen. It extensively updates readers on the rapidly-changing price and energy landscape, the latest industry thinking on the effects of large volumes of renewable energy on the grid and the path to deep decarbonisation of human civilisation.

Book Reviews

The book is not a systematic elucidation of solar technologies. It is most certainly not a textbook. Its 25 short chapters are almost vignettes, giving us glimpses of the solar industry from a variety of angles. There’s a chapter on failed solar companies, a chapter on trade wars, a chapter on solar thermal technologies, and a chapter on how to deal with intermittency. The quantitative data in the book’s two dozen charts are more illustrative than comprehensive—and necessarily so, because any attempt to be comprehensive would be too dull to read, and/or thwarted by trade secrets, and/or out of date before the ink is dry.

Daniel V. Schroeder, American Journal of Physics

Author Book Discussions

About the Author

Jenny Chase is a solar analyst at BloombergNEF and is widely regarded as a top solar industry expert.

Follow Jenny Chase on twitter @solar_chase.

Green Stocks Research

Join the GSR Community

Join the GSR Community

Share This