Opinion and commentary

Plummeting solar and wind prices have generated a great deal of excitement in India’s energy markets. The argument has been unabashedly materialist: we have sunlight, wind and land, and should therefore be able to build large amounts of renewable energy. Kathryn Hochstetler’s new book Political Economies of Energy Transition: Wind and Solar Power in Brazil and South Africa pries open the hidden political world of the transition. Through richly detailed case studies of the two countries, she tells the story of a desperate coal giant, astute bureaucrats, powerful industry lobbies, massive state corruption and hopeful industrial policy. The renewable transition is not just about silicon and steel, it is the very stuff of modern politics.