Global Oil Reserves Fell in 2008 on Russia, Norway, Says BP

Global Oil Reserves Fell in 2008 on Russia, Norway, Says BP.

Don't forget Peak Oil.

Take the Crash Course.

Crash Course Chapter 17a: Peak Oil



Crash Course Chapter 17b: Energy Budgeting



Crash Course Chapter 17c: Energy and the Economy

FSLR; The Betamax of Solar?

FSLR announced their earnings today. The results were great, particularly considering the overall economy.

I've given FSLR considerable thought in the last couple years, and I remain convinced that they have unspeakable future problems. On their investor relations page, they link to the pdf associated with their Q1 conference call. In it, they mention what they consider to be risks to their business, but nowhere do they mention the risk associated with availability of their critical Tellurium supply. Ok, so maybe they have it all figured out; but nobody's asking, and nobody's telling.

Ok, I don't know, but I want to get an idea of what kind of supply issue they're up against, so I've gathered some info.

Per Greentech Media, FSLR uses 6 grams of Tellurium per square meter. (See.)

Per First Solar, the FS-277 Module is .72m2 and has a peak power of 77.5W. (See.)

77.5W / .72m2 = 107.64W/m2

So, at 6 grams / m2, the amount of Tellurium required per Watt works out to be 6g / 107.64W = .056 g/W.

Well, we know that FSLR is aiming for a bit over a GW in annual production for '09 and '10, so rounding to 1GW gives roughly 55.7 Metric Tons of Tellurium required to produce that GW of modules.

The question, then, is how much Tellurium is out there, and what does it cost?

According to the USGS, the price has ranged from $41,800/MT in 2004 to
$82,000/MT in 2007. The World Supply of Tellurium according to US Geological Survey was 132MT in 2006.

Ah, no problem. If they're using 55MT to produce 1W worth of modules, and they're paying even the high price of $82,000/MT for their supply, then they're only paying a total of $4.5 Million for their entire yearly supply of Tellurium. That's less than a penny per Watt. In fact, during the CC, Jesse Peechel stated, quite possibly accurately, that First Solar's largest cost was glass.

Wait, a problem. Solar is big. A sensible look at the required future scale of Solar Energy puts the annual Global installation rate to be around 30GWp per year by just 2012. What if FSLR wants to maintain a significant share in this market?

Well, as it is today, it appears that over a third of the World's Tellurium supply is required for the production of a single Gigawatt of First Solar modules.
If FSLR were to take 10% of that market, they'd have to produce 3GW of modules, which by today's efficiencies would require 165MT of Tellurium, or more Tellurium than the World produced in 2006! Well, maybe the price of Tellurium is a pittance when the company is demanding only a third of the World supply of material, but I can guarantee that it won't remain so when that company is demanding 33MT MORE than the World's annual supply.

A big part of this problem is that there's no such thing as a Tellurium mine. Tellurium is only produced as a byproduct of mining other commodities, such as Copper. This means that it's very difficult to increase the World Supply independently of the supply of those other materials. If you were to mine Tellurium alone, the cost would be astronomical, and yet if you were to drive up the mining activity in Tellurium's sister elements, then you'd have the affect of driving down the prices of those materials, thus making them into less desirable targets for mining.

What about efficiency gains? Sure, if FSLR is able to pull off a tripling, or even just a doubling of their efficiency, then they could make do with dramatically less material. I can imagine several possible ways that they could do this, but I suspect that it will be a tough path. As it stands, per the CC pdf, FSLR has increased the conversion efficiency of their product by .3% since Q1 of '08. That's simply not going to cut it, particularly if you look out past 2012 when the market gets even larger.

I don't know. They have some very smart people there, and they're working hard in an exciting industry. The particular technology just doesn't seem to stack up to me, though, and like I said, nobody is asking questions and nobody is volunteering answers.

Ah well, in the short term, I'm quite certain that they are going to do great. Wall Street loves them, and they have excellent margins for the time being. They very well might be able to leverage some of that temporary financial advantage in order to open up new technologies to their benefit, so we'll see.

All that said, I'm not short FSLR, and I suspect that to go short FSLR would be a very bad plan.

Also, a final note, it's pretty obvious that I think that the strongest players at this time are out of China, but it's not that I don't like some US Companies. I really like Applied Materials, and Sunpower to name a couple of domestic players.

Neat Trick with a Prius - Backup Residential Power.

A Prius can power your home.

WSJ - Feb '08 - Asia Coal Issues.

China Spurs Coal-Price Surge

This goes well with my still incomplete comparison between Solar and Coal.

Coal / Solar Cost Comparison - Final Draft

Note: This article is under revision, considering current fluctuations in price. The Concept is sound (IMO) as a way to make rough comparisons in cost, but the Prices are presently off.

Also note, the 33% Insolation that is used as a basis for comparison, is very high for a stationary system, but well within the range of a tracking system. For more information on Insolation, see "A Note on Units of Energy and Insolation."

I'll set up two equivalent scenarios using Coal and Solar, and will then make comparisons.

Note: I make numerous assumptions, and will mention these where appropriate.




For this thought experiment, we'll imagine that both of these industries are starting from scratch with equal Energy Production Capacities. In reality, of course, Coal has tremendous existing Scale Advantage over Solar.

This will be a demonstration of how fuel costs could affect the long term comparative cost of the Coal Energy vs. Solar Energy.

First, imagine two industries; Solar and Coal. The goal of both of these industries is to produce Energy.

Now, divide each of the industries into three groups.

Group One:

Group One is made up of those segments of the Industries that produce the actual Electrical Generation Facilities.

In the case of Coal, this is the industry that produces the actual Power Plant. It would include everything from the ground up, like the steelworks that made the metal, to the quarries that produced the Concrete. It would include the Engineers, Managers, and Laborers for the Plant Construction, as well as the Lawyers and Lobbyists required to work with the Government and Public to support the plant's construction.

In the case of Solar, this would include all of the players from TCS, Wafers, Crucibles, and Modules, through the final Solar Power Plant Installation. Once again, it would include all of the extraneous support required for the project.


Group Two:

This group is made up of everyone associated with supplying the fuel for the Power Plants that were produced by Group One, above.

- For Coal, this would include everything from the actual Mining of the Coal; the engineers, geologists, equipment operators, supervisors, etc. This group would also include the Transportation of the Coal to the Power Plant.

- For Solar, there is no Second Group. There is no Delivery of fuel to the Solar Plant.


Group Three:

This is all of those involved in the upkeep over time of the power plants. I'll ignore this group, and give Coal a freebie. I think it's safe to say that Solar will beat Coal on Upkeep Costs over time.

Notes and Assumptions:

Note: The Solar Plant is going to have to be rather larger in peak rating than the Coal Plant, since Sunlight isn't constant. 33% is a fair conversion for a very sunny place, so our Solar Plant has to be three times the rated output of the Coal Plant (Say, 350MW Coal = 1050MW Solar). Whatever actual output we settle on, we just want the total yearly output of Energy from both plants to be the same for comparison purposes.

Note: Solar does not provide a base load like Coal. We're just looking at total Energy Output, not the convenience or timing of the final product. Ultimately, for future base-loads, we'll need a heck of a grid, plus some other provider like Sequestered Coal, Geothermal, or something else like that.

Note: I have Silicon-based Photovoltaic Solar in mind in writing this.

Note: PV Solar lends itself to a decentralized solution. Therefore, when talking about a 1050 MW Installation, we don't have to assume that some company has bought 1050 MW worth of Panels and Installed them as a single project. Instead, we can talk about a total of 1050 MW of Panels installed anywhere, in any distribution. Whether Centralized, or not, a Watt of Solar Energy offsets a Watt of Fossil-based Production.

Note: The referred-to Spreadsheet is likely not entirely clear to anyone but myself. I did try to add descriptions to help, but there are a lot of numbers involved. Feel free to counter my numbers with your own if you think that I'm off on anything.

Assumption: I've worked out several Cost scenarios involving guesses on future Inflation / Coal Price Increases. Of course there's no telling how the price of Coal will vary over the next 25 Years. There are numerous reasons to suggest, however, that the price of Coal will not remain static, particularly in the face of Peak Fossil and US Dollar Depreciation. Even if Coal is not near Peak, Peak Oil will put increasing upward price pressure on Fuel to support Coal Deliveries. Nearly all of the price pressures in the foreseeable future point towards a continued Increase in the Price of Coal, particularly in the price of non-local Coal that requires long distance transport.

Assumption: No cost factors related to future Climate Change Regulations are included in this Document. This gives a huge Freebie to Coal, as Sequestration and Carbon Credits will add greatly to the cost of Energy Production from Coal Sources over the next 25 Years.

Assumption: No cost factors related to Increased Healthcare Costs due to the Burning of Coal. This is another Freebie for Coal as far as this paper is concerned.

Assumption: I assume for the initial calculations that the lifespan of the Coal Plant and the Solar Plant are equal to 25 Years. The lifespan of either a Coal Plant or a Solar Plant is certainly greater than 25 Years. I'll look back at this in a later section.

Assumption: I assume for the initial calculations that the Conversion Efficiency of the Solar Panels stay constant throughout the life of the plant. Again, I'll look back at this in a later section.

Imagine both a Coal Industry and a Solar Industry, each capable of producing a single Power Plant per year (or arbitrary unit of time, really).

Year One: Both a Coal and a Solar Plant are built.

By the end of year One, both the Coal Plant and the Solar Plant have produced one Yearly Energy Unit. The Coal Plant has consumed it's required yearly supply of Coal.

Year Two: Both a Coal and a Solar Plant are built.

By the end of this year, the Plants that were built last year, each produce their total yearly capacity in Energy. In addition, the new plants being constructed this year have each produced a Yearly Energy Unit. The two Coal Plants consume a total of 2 Units of Coal for the year.

The Total Amount of Coal burned since the first Year is 3 Units.

Year Three: Both a Coal and a Solar Plant are built.

By the end of this year, the Plants that were built in the two previous years, each produce their total yearly capacities in Energy, for a total of 2 Units of Energy from Solar and Coal Plants. In addition, the new plants from this year have each produced a Yearly Energy Unit. The three Coal Plants consume a total of 3 Units of Coal for the year.

The Total Amount of Coal burned since the first Year is 6 Units.

Now, to make some Comparisons between Coal and Solar based on the above setup.

Comparison One: Side-by-Side – Energy Output

Take a look at this spreadsheet, I'll take it out 25 Years.

See Sheet 1.

This first set just shows that over 25 years, the total Energy Output of both our Coal and Our Solar Industries are the same. Easy enough, that was part of the basic assumption.


Comparison Two: Side-by-Side – Feedstock Demand

This next set shows how the total demand for Coal Feedstock grows over time.

See Sheet 2.

Per Plant, of course, it's linear; just One Unit of Coal Fuel per Year per Plant; however, as the number of plants increases, the Total Yearly Demand for Coal for the Industry increases exponentially based on the rate of increase of demand. This is a recipe for increased cost of that fuel over time, particularly since the Coal is utterly destroyed in the process of burning; there is no recycling or conservation of raw materials.

In fact, over the first 25 years of the scenario, the yearly demand for Coal from the Power Plants has increased 25 times. Unless supply increases similarly, prices will have to increase due to the additional demand.

This is where our assumption that the Coal Industry isn't actually a behemoth in comparison to Solar comes in. Of course, the Industry is so large that an extra 25 Plants worth of Demand isn't going to stress out the Suppliers too much. However, the ability of the Coal Industry to increase supply to meet demand is not infinite, particularly since, once the coal is gone from a site, it's gone and the total production from that site has to be replaced by production from a new site. Finding new sites gets more difficult over time, particularly as International Politics and Dependence on Support from Sovereign Governments creates Long Term Complications and various forms of Blowback.

Looking at some actual Coal Consumption Numbers (See P.35), we see that in 10 years between '97 and '07, consumption of Coal increased from 2317 to 3177 (Millions of Tons of Oil Equivalent), or by 37%. According to The World Coal Institute, "at current production levels coal will be available for at least the next 147 years." They specify at "current production rates," which says to me that they are not taking into account increases in Demand / Production, as production rates would either have to increase to meet demand, or else price would have to go through the roof to take into account the discrepancy. Oddly enough, at the beginning of the writing of this paper, the World Coal Institute estimation was that we had 155 years worth of Coal remaining, but now, having confirmed my links, I see that they've updated this number to 147 Years, which means that in about two weeks of time, the World Coal Institute revised their estimate down by eight years*. For a counter opinion on the timing of Peak Coal, see this article which concludes that it could be in as soon as 15 years.


Comparison Three: Costs – Inflation Scenarios

Looking at a specific example, I'll take a look at some samples of Coal Plants, to see how much coal they each go through in a year. I've grabbed a couple of examples from the web, which gives some idea of how much coal a plant will go through, compared to its rated power output. It looks like Milliken Station on Cayuga Lake is quoted as the most efficient plant of the four that I found (in Energy per ton of Coal), so I'll use that plant as an example, and support it as within a reasonable estimation with some averages from www.powerofcoal.com.

See Sheet 3.

In fact, it appears that the fuel cost that I derive for Milliken Station is slightly above the average in the Industry. Per PowerofCoal. Working out the Cost per Watt from Milliken Station over 25 Years at $100 / ton gives $6.26/Watt*25 Years. This compares to the National Average, which works out to $5.18/Watt*25 Years. Note that since this “PowerofCoal” reference was dated, most Coal Prices have increased quite dramatically, so the national average costs have probably increased by 25% or more.

Note: Per “Checking my Numbers,” below, it appears that Milliken Station is very close to the theoretical maximum in terms of Energy Production / Ton of Coal. Therefore the PowerofCoal Numbers are likely skewed in some way, likely due to the Particularly large amount of easily recoverable Coal in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, and possibly also due to Government incentives at some stage of the Coal Energy Production Cycle.

Over the first 25 years of this plant's life, it costs a total of around $2.6 Billion in initial Construction Costs and Yearly Deliveries of Coal Fuel. Of course, this assumes that the price of Coal doesn't increase over this 25 years, and it assumes that the plant costs nothing in maintenance. As shown on Sheet 3, if Inflationary factors are considered, total cost for this near average plant over 25 years could actually approach $6+ Billion.

For Fuel Cost Estimation for other Coal Plants, see Sheet 4.

Ok, now to look at an equivalent Solar Installation (1050MW @ 33% of Peak in Total Energy Output). There are alot of different ways to work out sample prices for equivalent Solar Installations. The first, and ugliest example would be to use the retail price data from Solarbuzz.

According to Solarbuzz, the average US Retail Price for Panels is $4.82 Watt, and the Total Cost of the Project is about Twice the cost of the PV Modules. Using this method arrives at an end resulting cost of between about 2 and 5 times the cost of an equivalent Coal Plant over 25 years (Depending on Future Inflation). At this price, the total cost of the Installation would be $4.82/W * 1MillionW/MW * 1050MW * 2 = $10.12 Billion (compared to $2-$6 Billion for an equivalent Coal Plant). Wow! Ok, but this number reflects the many inefficiencies of small-scale retail distribution and installation. It also represents the current high demand / low supply that we see in the World PV Market, reflected among other things by a cost of Polysilicon of 5-10 times (or more) the cost of its production (Polysilicon costs are around 40% of the total cost of producing Solar Panels at this time).

So, with a 25 Year window, it's tough to compare the Best-case scenario for Coal to the Worst-case scenario for Solar at present Solar Prices. We'll get back to this one a bit later.

Instead, I'll try to gauge the cost of some existing large scale PV Solar Installations. Attached you'll see a few price references to indicate the Cost / Peak Power that is currently available for mid-size Installation sizes.

See Sheet 5.

This spreadsheet shows some examples of Solar Power Plants in the real World, their output, and their projected costs. Remember, that I've chosen a 1050MW Solar Plant to be equivalent to a 350MW Coal Plant in annual Energy Output.

The Price per Watt ranges from $5.33 -$8.05. So, using this range of prices to construct a theoretical Solar Plant of 1050MW would give us costs ranging from $5.8-$8.5 Billion. Remember, this is compared to a cost for coal of my just slightly above US average Coal Power Production Costs of $2.6-$6.5 Billion.

Personally, I think that assuming future inflation to be zero is ludicrous, and can't help but think that the much safer bet is that Coal Fuel Prices will increase significantly faster in the near and mid-term future than we're used to thinking about. If this is the case, then there are cases in this scenario in which Solar Installation would be the best economic choice for installation RIGHT NOW.


Comparison Three A: Costs – Inflation Scenarios – Extended to 50 Years

We know that a Coal Plant Lifespan isn't limited to 25 Years. We know that Solar Panels are typically warranted out to 25 Years. We also know, however, that Solar Panels can last significantly longer than 25 Years. Sheet 7 gives some idea of what kind of useful lifespan we are looking at as far as Solar Panels, based on a .5% degradation in output per Year. Considering this degradation would certainly throw off the previous Calculations, so I'll consider it for this scenario. I'll also cut down the total output of the Panels by 5% due to Inverter Losses, and by 10% for High Temperature Loss. In addition, I'll take into account the Panel Output loss over that 50 Years using the Chart on Sheet 7 by reducing the overall Output by an extra 12.5%. All of this means that now, instead of needing 1050MW to equal the 350MW Coal Plant, we're going to need a 1364MW Solar Plant.

As before, using Solarbuzz, $4.82/W * 1MillionW/MW * 1364MW * 2 = $13.15 Billion for the entire Solar Installation.

Now, for the Coal Plant, we'll figure out the cost over 50 Years assuming some inflation rate. This time I'll assume a rate of 4%. See Sheet 8. It seems that assuming 4% Inflation in the price of Coal over these 50 Years, even with all of the negative offsets that I've just added to the cost of the Solar Installation, the Coal Plant LOSES with a total fuel cost of $13.4 Billion.

Remember, Solarbuzz Numbers are Retail. How much money can we save for a utility-scale operation by buying bulk? I'm going to take a wild guess.

In the real World, Trina Solar recently reported an ASP, or Average Selling Price, of $3.85 / Watt, which is relatively high relative to other Solar Manufacturers, but well below Retail. Given a direct relationship with a Modulemaker such as Trina, and the ability to buy at around $3.85 / Watt, brings the cost of our 1364MW Solar Plant cost down by $2.6 Billion to $10.50 Billion.

We can do more. Solarbuzz says that the total cost of the Installation is twice the cost of the Modules. Well, clearly this reflects the cost of Installation on the Retail Level, which will certainly be higher than the cost of Installation on a Utility Scale. It is much more challenging to do thousands of Individual Installations on unique rooftops all over a region, than it is to take a piece of land and set up a large scale array of panels. Another Efficiency factor to be found in Large-scale installations will be the savings due to an efficiently engineered wiring and electrical design. For instance, a large scale system won't need the vast number of small inverters that would be required for an equally powered Residential Distribution. I think it's pretty safe to assume that 20% in efficiencies could be found in this situation, so we work out a Installation cost per Watt of $3.85, or $2.6 Billion Dollars off of the cost of the 1364MW Installation, leading to a total cost of $7.9 Billion Dollars.

So, the results of this scenario show that over 50 Years, our 1364W Installation should compare very favorably with Coal. The Total Installation Cost of $7.9 Billion is much lower than the Coal Plant's 50 Year Cost of $13.4 Billion assuming a low low inflation rate of 4%. Is fact, just considering a low 4% Inflation Rate, the Solar Plant breaks even with the Coal Plant at 39 Years. Anything beyond this time is Icing.

A Note on Scale

So far I've been assuming that 1050MW or 1364MW of Solar panels could be even bought on the Open Market. This is a questionable assumption.

According to the Chart on Sheet 5, the total annual installation for 2007 was 2.2 GW. However, as can be seen on the same chart, the rate of increase of installation capacity (limited by production capacity) is taking off, and is expected to increase by Eighteen Hundred Percent, to 37GW Annually, in the next Four Years.

This is when things will start to get interesting, because Utility-scale Developers will for the first time ever, have the opportunity to supply large-scale plants with decreasing lead times, and at the prices that I have talked about in this document, or less.

Conclusion

Well, so far, what I've shown is that there is overlap in the long term price of a Solar Installation and Coal Installations. Much depends on the future rate of Inflation, or at least Inflation in terms of increased Price of Coal. However, given that Future Inflation is not knowable, but in today's World Economic Climate could be explosive, Solar, even at today's high prices, fills a lucrative Energy Niche as a hedge against increasing Coal prices.

As it is, Solar Producers have more than enough Customers to easily sell all the product that they can make at today's prices. Industry Production Capacity is increasing incredibly fast, though, and will likely soon outstrip demand. However, long term Coal Generation costs would indicate that a price bottom for Solar Products will arrive as defined by projections of long-term production costs from Fossil Fuels similar to what I've shown above.

In a future Post I will look at Comparisons between Solar and Natural Gas Electricity Production, which is really a much closer fit to the particular niche that Solar fills, but in this first case I wanted to compare the costs to Coal, which is typically acknowledged as the cheapest current source of Electricity.

Checking my Numbers

Energy Capacity per Ton of Coal:


Is it reasonable to assume that a Coal Plant like Milliken Station actually consumes 876000 Tons of Coal per Year in order to produce its 350MW of Power?

Per Wikipedia, Coal Plants produce approx. 2KW*Hour/KG of Coal.

I want to solve the equation (2KW*Hour/KG)*X Tons of Coal Burned / Year = 350 MW * Year.

I'll convert to Years because because I want the Annual Average to make Comparisons to. As for the Mass, I want Long Tons, which are equal to 1016 KG, and for Power I want Megawatts.

So, X Tons / Year = (350MW * Year)/(2KW*Hour/KG)

Then, X Tons / Year = (350MW * Year)/(2KW*Hour/KG*1MW/1000KW*1Year/8760Hours*1016KG/1Ton)

Finally, X Tons / Year = (350MW * Year)/(.000232MW*Year/Ton) = 1.5 Million Tons of Coal / Year. Wow, this is rather a lot higher than my estimated Coal Fuel Demand for a 350MW Plant, which makes the Solar Plant considerably cheaper in Comparison.

Let's try another estimation. A physicist friend of mine, who works in Coal, estimated for me that a Ton of Thermal Coal, when burned, produces 26 GJ of Energy (Wikipedia has it at 24 GJ/Ton (after some conversions)). Using an Online Converter, 26 GJ works out to 7.22 MW*Hour. Not all of that Energy is converted into Electricity at the Coal Plant, only between 30%-35% is typically converted with a theoretical limit at about 45%.

Using 35% Efficiency would put the Energy / Ton of Coal at 9.1 GJ/Ton, or 2.52 MW*Hour/Ton.

Using the same process as above, for a 350 MW Power Plant, this works out to 1.22 Million Tons of Coal / Year, also higher than my earlier Estimation for Milliken Station.

Let's go one step better for Coal. I've seen reference to 30 GJ per Ton and 42% Conversion Efficiency at a particular plant. I'll work out the Tons of Coal / Year for a 350MW Coal Plant under these Conditions.

30 GJ per Ton = 8.33 MW*Hour/Ton.

At 42% Efficiency in converting this energy to Electricity at a Coal Plant, we get 3.5 MW*Hour/Ton.

Calculating as above, at this incredibly efficient example we come up with Total Tons per Year = (350MW * Year)/(3.5 MW*Hour/Ton*1Year/8760Hours) = 877,000 Tons per Year. This almost exactly matches our estimation for Milliken Station. Nice!



PowerofCoal Data Check:


PowerofCoal Claim: The Average Cost of Production of all US Coal Plants (as of Jan '08) = $23.68 per MW*Hour

In Comparison Three I used this number to calculate a Cost / Watt over 25 Years of $5.18/Watt*25 Years. To do this, I did the following conversion:

Average Cost / Watt*Year = ($23.68/MW*Hour)(1MW/1,000,000W)(365Days/1Year)(24Hours/1Day) = $0.20 / Watt*Year = $5.18 / W*25Years or $10.36 / W*50Years.

Note: These numbers for PowerofCoal.com include all of the cost of production, including presumably, maintenance and upkeep. So, they should be slightly more representative of the actual costs to produce Energy with Coal in the US, however, as shown above, Milliken Station is close to the peak of Efficiency in terms of Energy Output to Coal Consumed, so in order to arrive at a lower average cost than Milliken Station, the average cost of Coal to these US Coal Plants must be much lower than $100 / Ton, or else the cost to produce Coal Energy in the US must be Subsidized. We can see from the Chart that the US does indeed have access to very cheap Coal from Powder River Basin, though from the same Chart we can also see that other Coal Sources are increasing their prices dramatically.

Using the above numbers as a starting place, and then calculating in 4% in Inflation Increases per year, gives $8.63 / W*25Years or $31.63 / W*50Years.

Additional References

Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheets)

PV Costs to Decrease 40% by 2010

China Spurs Coal-Price Surge -WSJ



* Note on World Coal Institute Archives. Based on Archived Reports :

2008 Estimated Reserves: 147 Years
2007 Estimated Reserves: 147 Years
2006 Estimated Reserves: 155 Years
2005 Estimated Reserves: 164 Years
2004 Estimated Reserves: 190 Years
2003 Estimated Reserves: 200 Years
2001 Estimated Reserves: 200 Years

Conclusion, since 2001, we've used 53 Years worth of Coal. LOL!

A couple points on FSLR.

I have to say, I'm not a fan of FSLR's particular technology, CdTe, because of the whole Tellurium Scarcity problem, as well as the Cadmium toxicity.

As evidence of this, I'll point out a line on their Q2 report.

Under "Liabilities," "Accrued collection and recycling liabilities" are shown as $23.5 Million for the Quarter. This compared to $69.7 Million in Net Income. One of the goals mentioned in the CC, was that they had produced their 500th Megawatt in Q2.

Essentially, the two big problems of CdTe lead to a company that MUST recycle the vast majority of their product for its lifetime. They MUST have that source of Tellurium, and in order to do business in places like Germany they've got to deal with their toxins at the end of a product's life. That could potentially lead to an increasingly expensive infrastructure required to support an increasing number of installations, which will be distributed widely around the planet.

I guess my hope would be that a big chunk of this expenditure is for the set-up of a recycling facility, and is a one time cost. What happens years down the road when FSLR has many GigaWatts of installed capacity?


On a totally unrelated note, it seems that they state in the CC that Conversion efficiency has increased by 10 "basis points," or .1%. I'm sorry, but that's peanuts. When asked about whether their newer facilities were producing more efficient modules, they replied that the 10.7% figure that they had been using was just an average, and that the actual efficiency varied, and they confirmed that 10.7% was the average at all of the facilities.

Based on this, I'd be very curious what kind of mid-term increases they are expecting in Conversion Efficiency, because otherwise it looks to me like they're close to "stalled."

As I've said before, just because I have a hard time believing in the fundamentals of this company, I wouldn't be shorting it unless I was willing to lose alot of money, at least in the short to mid term.

Disclosure, I have no position on First Solar.


Note: For more background on FSLR, See this.

Petrobras Oil Workers Strike.

Petrobras Oil Workers Strike; Production Cut Expected

Brazil's Oil Workers Confederation began a five-day strike against Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the country's state-controlled oil company, an action that may cut Brazilian daily oil output by more than half.

A man with a Plan - T Boone Pickens.

Peak Coal.

Peak coal: sooner than you think

"Looking to the future, many analysts who are concerned about emerging supply constraints for oil and gas foresee a compensating shift to lower-quality fuels. Coal can be converted to a gaseous or liquid fuel, and coal gasification and coal-to-liquids plants are being constructed at record rates.

This expanded use of coal is worrisome to advocates of policies to protect the global climate, some of whom place great hopes in new (mostly untested) technologies to capture and sequester carbon from coal gasification. With or without such technologies, there will almost certainly be more coal in our near future.

According to the widely accepted view, at current production levels proven coal reserves will last 155 years (this according to the World Coal Institute). The US Department of Energy (USDoE) projects annual global coal consumption to grow 2.5 per cent a year through 2030, by which time world consumption will be nearly double that of today."

Salon - Nuclear bomb

Nuclear bomb

"In October 2007, Florida Power and Light (FPL), "a leader in nuclear power generation," presented its detailed cost estimate for new nukes to the Florida Public Service Commission. It concluded that two units totaling 2,200 megawatts would cost from $5,500 to $8,100 per kilowatt -- $12 billion to $18 billion total!"


More cost numbers behind the link.

Peak Oil on CNBC.

Robert Hirsch of the Hirsch Report.

Market tanks, oil blamed. Time to ponder.

Stocks stumble on record oil, inflation worries


It's a day like this when investors and market watchers are reminded of the importance of affordable energy to their future. It's not a bad thing to be reminded of.

Oddly enough, Solar was mixed (See below).




A basic Reminder: when we think "Inflation," we must think "Energy Supply." When we think "Energy Supply," we must not just think "Oil," but also "Coal." Both of these primary sources of Energy are at risk of runaway prices. Therefore, when we think of either of these two forms of Fossil Energy, we must think of the "competition." This should lead us right to "Solar," "Wind," and "Geothermal." We need to stop thinking about Energy only in terms of "Burning Things."

Energy is Conserved, and energy from Fossils is ultimately the same as Energy from the Sun, or the Wind. Yes, the form is different, and the technology required to make use of the different forms of Energy are different, but given that one form of energy is increasing in scarcity, it is incumbent on those who have concern for the Economy to develop additional sources of available Energy. There is simply no choice in the matter. There is no Economy without Energy.

Mining Operations are being hit by Energy Shortages.

Metals Surge as Rationing Cuts Power at Biggest Mines

12 day Chinese Coal Supply.

China down to 12 days worth of coal - report

CHINA only has enough coal for 12 days of consumption, three days less than a month ago, state media reported Wednesday, sounding the alarm bells over the nation's most important source of energy.

Found by Cardiakarrest of Yahoo.

FSLR and the Tellurium Fiasco.

It's interesting to see First Solar so well hyped, while the Tellurium issue goes undiscussed by the Investment Community. The possibility of a price spike in Tellurium has been discussed for some time over at the Stock Psychology Blog, and at that Author's posts at Seeking Alpha.

Here's his latest post on the subject.

It sure looks like there's a hell of a spike happening in the price of Tellurium. To me, it's reminiscent of what's been happening in Silicon, and it's just the kind of price movement that makes highly dependent industries struggle with competitiveness. The difference between Tellurium and Silicon, of course, is that Tellurium is incredibly rare on earth, while Silicon is incredibly common. With Tellurium, you can't just increase manufacturing capacity freely, because there simply isn't enough raw material of refine, whereas with Silicon, though refining is expensive, there is a vast amount of raw material available for as far as the eye can see.

Peak Oil Paper - For future Reference.

http://www.peakoilassociates.com/PeakOilAnalysisOctober6-2007.pdf

Update on Coal Prices and Supply - Bloomberg

Coal May Extend Gains as Australia, Africa Exports Disrupted

More news from South Africa.

S. Africa declares electricity emergency


In addition to driving up the price of Gold, the Energy Shortages in South Africa are actually causing Coal Mining operations to shut down, thus further driving up Energy prices.

EDIT: Here's a brief article on South Africa's involvement with a German Thin-Film (CIGS) manufacturer called JST.

Example: Ramifications of an Energy Shortage.

South African Mines Halt Production on Power Shortage - Bloomberg

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Gold Fields Ltd. and Anglo Platinum Ltd. shut their South African mines as the nation's power shortage worsened, threatening growth and investment in the continent's biggest economy.

"Power is like oxygen, it's essential for any half modern economy," said Goolam Ballim, chief economist of Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa's biggest lender. "If you're shaving growth, then earnings generation, stock market potential and wealth creation is being eroded."


I see that right now Gold is at $921.20/oz, up $15.40.


Just goes to show, if you've got Energy, you can produce wealth. If you've got no Energy, you stop.