ITEM 1A - RISK FACTORS
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the material risks and uncertainties described below that make an investment in us speculative or risky, as well as the other information in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, including our condensed consolidated financial statements and the related notes and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” before you decide to purchase our securities. The occurrence of one or more of these risks may cause the market price of our Class A common stock to decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. It is not possible to predict or identify all such risks and uncertainties, as our operations could also be affected by factors, events or uncertainties that are not presently known to us or that we currently do not consider to present significant risks to our operations. Therefore, you should not consider the following risks to be a complete statement of all the potential risks or uncertainties that we face.
Risk Factor Summary
The following summarizes the more complete risk factors that follow. It should be read in conjunction with the complete Risk Factors section and should not be relied upon as an exhaustive summary of all the material risks facing our business.
Risks Related to Our Business, Industry and Sales
•The distributed generation industry is an emerging market and distributed generation may not receive widespread market acceptance, which may make evaluating our business and future prospects difficult.
•Our products involve a lengthy sales and installation cycle, and if we fail to close sales on a regular and timely basis, our business could be harmed.
•Our Energy Servers have significant upfront costs, and we will need to attract investors to help customers finance purchases.
•The economic benefits of our Energy Servers to our customers depend on the cost of electricity available from alternative sources, including local electric utility companies, and such cost structure is subject to change.
•We rely on interconnection requirements and net metering arrangements that are subject to change.
•We currently face and will continue to face significant competition.
•We derive a substantial portion of our revenue and backlog from a limited number of customers, and the loss of or a significant reduction in orders from a large customer could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and other key metrics.
•Our ability to develop new products and enter into new markets could be negatively impacted if we are unable to identify partners to assist in such development or expansion.
Risks Related to Our Products and Manufacturing
•Our business has been and will continue to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
•Our future success depends in part on our ability to increase our production capacity, and we may not be able to do so in a cost-effective manner.
•If we are not able to continue to reduce our cost structure in the future, our ability to become profitable may be impaired.
•If our Energy Servers contain manufacturing defects, our business and financial results could be harmed.
•The performance of our Energy Servers may be affected by factors outside of our control, which could result in harm to our business and financial results.
•If our estimates of the useful life for our Energy Servers are inaccurate or we do not meet our performance warranties and performance guaranties, or if we fail to accrue adequate warranty and guaranty reserves, our business and financial results could be harmed.
•Our business is subject to risks associated with construction, utility interconnection, cost overruns and delays, including those related to obtaining government permits and other contingencies that may arise in the course of completing installations.
•Any significant disruption in the operations at our manufacturing facilities could delay the production of our Energy Servers, which would harm our business and results of operations.
•The failure of our suppliers to continue to deliver necessary raw materials or other components of our Energy Servers in a timely manner and to specification could prevent us from delivering our products within required time frames and could cause installation delays, cancellations, penalty payments and damage to our reputation.
•We have, in some instances, entered into long-term supply agreements that could result in insufficient inventory and negatively affect our results of operations.
Risks Related to Government Incentive Programs
•Our business currently benefits from the availability of rebates, tax credits and other financial programs and incentives, and the reduction, modification, or elimination of such benefits could cause our revenue to decline and harm our financial results.
•We rely on tax equity financing arrangements to realize the benefits provided by ITCs and accelerated tax depreciation and in the event these programs are terminated, our financial results could be harmed.
Risks Related to Legal Matters and Regulations
•We are subject to various environmental laws and regulations that could impose substantial costs upon us and cause delays in the delivery and installation of our Energy Servers.
•The installation and operation of our Energy Servers are subject to environmental laws and regulations in various jurisdictions, and there is uncertainty with respect to the interpretation of certain environmental laws and regulations to our Energy Servers, especially as these regulations evolve over time.
•As a technology based, in part, on fossil fuel, we may be subject to a heightened risk of regulation, to a potential for the loss of certain incentives, and to changes in our customers’ energy procurement policies.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
•Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position, and litigation to protect our intellectual property rights may be costly.
•Our patent applications may not result in issued patents, and our issued patents may not provide adequate protection, either of which may have a material adverse effect on our ability to prevent others from commercially exploiting products similar to ours.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Operating Results
•We have incurred significant losses in the past and we may not be profitable for the foreseeable future.
•Our financial condition and results of operations and other key metrics are likely to fluctuate on a quarterly basis in future periods, which could cause our results for a particular period to fall below expectations, resulting in a severe decline in the price of our Class A common stock.
•If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our business and operating results may suffer.
•The accounting treatment related to our revenue-generating transactions is complex, and if we are unable to attract and retain highly qualified accounting personnel to evaluate the accounting implications of our complex or non-routine transactions, our ability to accurately report our financial results may be harmed.
•If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected.
Risks Related to Our Liquidity
•We must maintain the confidence of our customers in our liquidity, including in our ability to timely service our debt obligations and in our ability to grow our business over the long-term.
•Our substantial indebtedness, and restrictions imposed by the agreements governing our and our PPA Entities’ (defined herein) outstanding indebtedness, may limit our financial and operating activities and may adversely affect our ability to incur additional debt to fund future needs.
•We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to meet our debt service obligations.
Risks Related to Our Operations
•We may have conflicts of interest with our PPA Entities (defined herein).
•Expanding operations internationally could expose us to additional risks.
•If we are unable to attract and retain key employees and hire qualified management, technical, engineering, and sales personnel, our ability to compete and successfully grow our business could be harmed.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
•The stock price of our Class A common stock has been and may continue to be volatile.
•The dual class structure of our common stock and the voting agreements among certain stockholders have the effect of concentrating voting control of our Company with KR Sridhar, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and also
with those stockholders who held our capital stock prior to the completion of our initial public offering, including our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, which limits or precludes your ability to influence corporate matters including the election of directors and the approval of any change of control transaction, and may adversely affect the trading price of our Class A common stock.
•We may issue additional shares of our Class A common stock in connection with any future conversion of the Green Notes (defined herein) and thereby dilute our existing stockholders and potentially adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Risks Related to Our Business, Industry and Sales
The distributed generation industry is an emerging market and distributed generation may not receive widespread market acceptance, which may make evaluating our business and future prospects difficult.
The distributed generation industry is still relatively nascent in an otherwise mature and heavily regulated industry, and we cannot be sure that potential customers will accept distributed generation broadly, or our Energy Server products specifically. Enterprises may be unwilling to adopt our solution over traditional or competing power sources for any number of reasons, including the perception that our technology or our company is unproven, lack of confidence in our business model, the perceived unavailability of back-up service providers to operate and maintain the Energy Servers, and lack of awareness of our product or their perception of regulatory or political headwinds. Because distributed generation is an emerging industry, broad acceptance of our products and services is subject to a high level of uncertainty and risk. If the market develops more slowly than we anticipate, our business will be harmed.
From our inception in 2001 through 2009, we were focused principally on research and development activities relating to our Energy Server technology. We did not deploy our first Energy Server and did not recognize any revenue until 2009. Since that initial deployment, our business has expanded significantly over a comparatively short time, and we have had a limited history operating our business at its current scale. Consequently, predicting our future revenue and appropriately budgeting for our expenses is difficult, and we have limited insight into trends that may emerge and affect our business. If actual results differ from our estimates or if we adjust our estimates in future periods, our operating results and financial position could be materially and adversely affected.
Our products involve a lengthy sales and installation cycle, and if we fail to close sales on a regular and timely basis, our business could be harmed.
Our sales cycle is typically 12 to 18 months but can vary considerably. In order to make a sale, we must typically provide a significant level of education to prospective customers regarding the use and benefits of our product and our technology. The period between initial discussions with a potential customer and the eventual sale of even a single product typically depends on a number of factors, including the potential customer’s budget and decision as to the type of financing it chooses to use, as well as the arrangement of such financing. Prospective customers often undertake a significant evaluation process that may further extend the sales cycle. Once a customer makes a formal decision to purchase our product, the fulfillment of the sales order by us requires a substantial amount of time. Generally, the time between the entry into a sales contract with a customer and the installation of our Energy Servers can range from nine to twelve months or more. This lengthy sales and installation cycle is subject to a number of significant risks over which we have little or no control. Because of both the long sales and long installation cycles, we may expend significant resources without having certainty of generating a sale.
These lengthy sales and installation cycles increase the risk that an installation may be delayed and/or may not be completed. In some instances, a customer can cancel an order for a particular site prior to installation, and we may be unable to recover some or all of our costs in connection with design, permitting, installation and site preparations incurred prior to cancellation. Cancellation rates can be between 10% and 20% in any given period due to factors outside of our control, including an inability to install an Energy Server at the customer’s chosen location because of permitting or other regulatory issues, delays or unanticipated costs in securing interconnection approvals or necessary utility infrastructure, unanticipated changes in the cost, or other reasons unique to each customer. Our operating expenses are based on anticipated sales levels, and many of our expenses are fixed. If we are unsuccessful in closing sales after expending significant resources or if we experience delays or cancellations, our business could be materially and adversely affected. Since, in general,we do not recognize revenue on the sales of our products until installation and acceptance, a small fluctuation in the timing of the completion of our sales transactions could cause operating results to vary materially from period to period.
Our Energy Servers have significant upfront costs, and we will need to attract investors to help customers finance purchases.
Our Energy Servers have significant upfront costs. In order to expand our offerings to customers who lack the financial capability to purchase our Energy Servers directly and/or who prefer to lease the product or contract for our services on a pay-as-you-go model, we subsequently developed various financing options that enabled customers use of the Energy Servers without a direct purchase through third-party ownership financing arrangements. For an overview of these different financing arrangements, please see Part I, Item 2, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Purchase and Lease Options. At present, we still had not secured funding for all of our planned installations in 2021. If we are not able to secure funding in a timely fashion, our results of operations and financial condition will be negatively impacted. We continue to innovate our customer contracts to attempt to attract new customers and these may have different terms and financing conditions from prior transactions.
We rely on and need to grow committed financing capacity with existing partners or attract additional partners to support our growth, finance new projects and new types of product offerings, including fuel cells for the hydrogen market. In addition, at any point in time, our ability to deploy our backlog is contingent on securing available financing. Our ability to attract third-party financing depends on many factors that are outside of our control, including an investors ability to utilize tax credits and other government incentives, interest rate and/or currency exchange fluctuations, our perceived creditworthiness and the condition of credit markets generally. Our financing of customer purchases of our Energy Servers is subject to conditions such as the customer’s credit quality and the expected minimum internal rate of return on the customer engagement, and if these conditions are not satisfied, we may be unable to finance purchases of our Energy Servers, which would have an adverse effect on our revenue in a particular period. If we are unable to help our customers arrange financing for our Energy Servers generally, our business will be harmed. Additionally, the Traditional Lease option and the Managed Services Financing option, as with all leases, are also limited by the customer’s willingness to commit to making fixed payments regardless of the performance of the Energy Servers or our performance of our obligations under the customer agreement. To the extent we are unable to arrange future financings for any of our current projects, our business would be negatively impacted.
Further, our sales process for transactions that require financing require that we make certain assumptions regarding the cost of financing capital. Actual financing costs may vary from our estimates due to factors outside of our control, including changes in customer creditworthiness, macroeconomic factors, the returns offered by other investment opportunities available to our financing partners, and other factors. If the cost of financing ultimately exceeds our estimates, we may be unable to proceed with some or all of the impacted projects or our revenue from such projects may be less than our estimates.
The economic benefits of our Energy Servers to our customers depend on the cost of electricity available from alternative sources, including local electric utility companies, and such cost structure is subject to change.
We believe that a customer’s decision to purchase our Energy Servers is significantly influenced by the price, the price predictability of electricity generated by our Energy Servers in comparison to the retail price, and the future price outlook of electricity from the local utility grid and other energy sources. The economic benefit of our Energy Servers to our customers includes, among other things, the benefit of reducing such customer’s payments to the local utility company. The rates at which electricity is available from a customer’s local electric utility company is subject to change and any changes in these rates may affect the relative benefits of our Energy Servers. Even in markets where we are competitive today, rates for electricity could decrease and render our Energy Servers uncompetitive. Several factors could lead to a reduction in the price or future price outlook for grid electricity, including the impact of energy conservation initiatives that reduce electricity consumption, construction of additional power generation plants (including nuclear, coal or natural gas) and technological developments by others in the electric power industry, which could result in electricity being available at costs lower than those that can be achieved from our Energy Servers. If the retail price of grid electricity does not increase over time at the rate that we or our customers expect, it could reduce demand for our Energy Servers and harm our business.
Further, the local electric utility or regulatory authorities may impose “departing load,” “standby,” power factor charges, greenhouse gas emissions charges, or other charges on our customers in connection with their acquisition or use of our Energy Servers, the amounts of which are outside of our control and which may have a material impact on the economic benefit of our Energy Servers to our customers. Changes in the rates offered by local electric utilities and/or in the applicability or amounts of charges and other fees imposed or incentives granted by such utilities on customers acquiring our Energy Servers could adversely affect the demand for our Energy Servers.
In some states and countries, the current low cost of grid electricity, even together with available subsidies, does not render our product economically attractive. If we are unable to reduce our costs to a level at which our Energy Servers would be
competitive in such markets, or if we are unable to generate demand for our Energy Servers based on benefits other than electricity cost savings, such as reliability, resilience, or environmental benefits, our potential for growth may be limited.
Furthermore, an increase in the price of natural gas or curtailment of availability (e.g., as a consequence of physical limitations or adverse regulatory conditions for the delivery of production of natural gas) or the inability to obtain natural gas service could make our Energy Servers less economically attractive to potential customers and reduce demand.
We rely on interconnection requirements and net metering arrangements that are subject to change.
Because our Energy Servers are designed to operate at a constant output 24x7, and our customers’ demand for electricity typically fluctuates over the course of the day or week, there are often periods when our Energy Servers are producing more electricity than a customer may require, and such excess electricity must be exported to the local electric utility. Many, but not all, local electric utilities provide compensation to our customers for such electricity under “net metering” programs. Utility tariffs and fees, interconnection agreements and net metering requirements are subject to changes in availability and terms and some jurisdictions do not allow interconnections or export at all. At times in the past, such changes have had the effect of significantly reducing or eliminating the benefits of such programs. Changes in the availability of, or benefits offered by, utility tariffs, the net metering requirements or interconnection agreements in place in the jurisdictions in which we operate or in which we anticipate expanding into in the future could adversely affect the demand for our Energy Servers. For example, in California, the net metering tariff applicable to fuel cells currently expires in 2021. We are currently working on an alternative microgrid tariff that would be applicable to fuel cells. We cannot predict the outcome of the regulatory proceedings addressing such requirements, in which we remain an active participant. If there is not an economical tariff for fuel cells in California it may limit or end our ability to sell and install our Energy Servers in California.
We currently face and will continue to face significant competition.
We compete for customers, financing partners, and incentive dollars with other electric power providers. Many providers of electricity, such as traditional utilities and other companies offering distributed generation products, have longer operating histories, customer incumbency advantages. access to and influence with local and state governments, and access to more capital resources than us. Significant developments in alternative technologies, such as energy storage, wind, solar, or hydro power generation, or improvements in the efficiency or cost of traditional energy sources, including coal, oil, natural gas used in combustion, or nuclear power, may materially and adversely affect our business and prospects in ways we cannot anticipate. We may also face new competitors who are not currently in the market. If we fail to adapt to changing market conditions and to compete successfully with grid electricity or new competitors, our growth will be limited, which would adversely affect our business results.
We derive a substantial portion of our revenue and backlog from a limited number of customers, and the loss of or a significant reduction in orders from a large customer could have a material adverse effect on our operating results and other key metrics.
In any particular period, a substantial amount of our total revenue has and could continue to come from a relatively small number of customers. As an example, in the year ended December 31, 2020, two customers, SK E&C and Duke Energy, accounted for approximately 34% and 28% of our total revenue. A unit of The Southern Company wholly owns a Third-Party PPA, and that entity purchases Energy Servers, which are then provided to various end customers under PPAs. The loss of any large customer order or any delays in installations of new Energy Servers with any large customer would materially and adversely affect our business results.
Our ability to develop new products and enter into new markets could be negatively impacted if we are unable to identify partners to assist in such development or expansion.
We continue to develop new products for new markets and, as we move into those markets, we may need to identify new business partners and suppliers in order to facilitate such development and expansion, such as our entry into the hydrogen market. Identifying such partners and suppliers is a lengthy process and is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, such as an inability to negotiate mutually-acceptable terms for the partnership. In addition, there could be delays in the design, manufacture and installation of such new products and we may not be timely in the development of new products, limiting our ability to expand our business and harming our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Products and Manufacturing
Our business has been and continues to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We continue to monitor and adjust as appropriate our operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The precautions that we have implemented in our operations may not be sufficient to prevent exposure to COVID-19, and it is possible an asymptomatic individual could enter our facilities and transmit the virus to others.
In addition, certain roles within our facilities involve greater mobility throughout our facilities and potential exposure to more employees. In the event one of such employees suffers from COVID-19, or if we otherwise believe that a significant number of employees have been exposed and sent home, particularly in our manufacturing facilities, our production could be significantly impacted. Furthermore, since our manufacturing process involves tasks performed at both our California facility and Delaware facility, significant exposure at either facility would have a substantial impact on our overall production, and in such case, our cash flow and results of operations including revenue will be adversely affected.
We have experienced COVID-19 related delays from certain vendors and suppliers, which, in turn, could cause delays in the manufacturing and installation of our Energy Servers and adversely impact our cash flows and results of operations including revenue. Alternative or replacement suppliers, may not be available and ongoing delays could affect our business and growth. For example, particular suppliers on which we rely were shut down in 2020, and we were not able to obtain all the needed parts. We may experience future disruptions in the availability or price of these or other parts, and we cannot guarantee that we will succeed in finding alternate suppliers that are able to meet our needs. In addition, international air and sea logistics systems have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Air carriers have significantly reduced their passenger and air freight capacity, and many ports are either temporarily closed or have reduced their hours of operation. Actions by government agencies may further restrict the operations of freight carriers, which would negatively impact our ability to receive the parts and supplies we need to manufacture our Energy Servers or to deliver them to our customers.
As discussed elsewhere, we also rely on third party financing for our customers’ purchases of our Energy Server and the current environment may cause third party financiers experience liquidity problems or elect to suspend or cancel investments in our projects, an inability to secure financing for our customer purchases, an increase in the time to solidify new relationships, and negative impacts on the creditworthiness of our customers. If we are delayed in obtaining financing for the purchase of our Energy Servers on behalf of our customers, our cash flow and results of operations, including revenue will be adversely affected. For the three months ended March 31, 2021, we were delayed in obtaining financing for our 2021 installations and cash flow was impacted as we did not receive deposits from financiers in advance of purchase of our Energy Servers. If delays in financing continue, then our cash flows, results of operations and revenue will be adversely impacted.
Our installation and maintenance operations have also been, and will continue to be, adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, our installation projects have experienced and may continue to experience delays relating to, among other things, shortages in available labor for design, installation and other work; the inability or delay in our ability to access customer facilities due to shutdowns or other restrictions; the decreased productivity of our general contractors, their sub-contractors, medium-voltage electrical gear suppliers, and the wide range of engineering and construction related specialist suppliers on whom we rely for successful and timely installations; the stoppage of work by gas and electric utilities on which we are critically dependent for hook ups; and the unavailability of necessary civil and utility inspections as well as the review of our permit submissions and issuance of permits by multiple authorities that have jurisdiction over our activities.
We are not the only business impacted by these shortages and delays, which means that we may in the future face increased competition for scarce resources, which may result in continuing delays or increases in the cost of obtaining such services, including increased labor costs and/or fees to expedite permitting. In addition, we have experienced interruptions and delays caused by confusion related to exemptions for “essential business” among our suppliers and their sub-contractors and the relevant permitting utilities related to our construction activities. Future changes in applicable government orders or regulations, or changes in the interpretation of existing orders or regulations, could result in reductions in the scope of permitted construction activities or prohibitions on such activities. An inability to install our Energy Servers would negatively impact our acceptances, and thereby impact our cash flows and results of operations, including revenue.
As to maintenance, if we are delayed in or unable to perform scheduled or unscheduled maintenance, our previously-installed Energy Servers will likely experience adverse performance impacts including reduced output and/or efficiency, which could result in warranty and/or guaranty claims by our customers. Further, due to the nature of our Energy Servers, if we are unable to replace worn parts in accordance with our standard maintenance schedule, we may be subject to increased costs in the future.
We continue to remain in close communication with our manufacturing facilities, employees, customers, suppliers and partners, but there is no guarantee we will be able to mitigate the impact of this dynamic and evolving situation.
Our future success depends in part on our ability to increase our production capacity, and we may not be able to do so in a cost-effective manner.
To the extent we are successful in growing our business, we may need to increase our production capacity. For example, we recently entered leased a new facility to increase our production capacity in order to meet our planned 2021 production targets, but we still need to complete the required build out in a timely manner. Our ability to plan, construct and equip additional manufacturing facilities is subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including the following:
•The risks inherent in the development and construction of new facilities, including risks of delays and cost overruns as a result of factors outside our control, which may include delays in government approvals, burdensome permitting conditions, and delays in the delivery of manufacturing equipment and subsystems that we manufacture or obtain from suppliers.
•Adding manufacturing capacity in any international location will subject us to new laws and regulations including those pertaining to labor and employment, environmental and export / import. In addition, it brings with it the risk of managing larger scale foreign operations.
•We may be unable to achieve the production throughput necessary to achieve our target annualized production run rate at our current and future manufacturing facilities.
•Manufacturing equipment may take longer and cost more to engineer and build than expected, and may not operate as required to meet our production plans.
•We may depend on third-party relationships in the development and operation of additional production capacity, which may subject us to the risk that such third parties do not fulfill their obligations to us under our arrangements with them.
•We may be unable to attract or retain qualified personnel.
If we are unable to expand our manufacturing facilities or develop our existing facilities in a timely manner, we may be unable to further scale our business, which would negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition. In addition, if any of our supply chain partners suffer from capacity constraints, deployment delays, work stoppages or any other reduction in output, we may be unable to meet our delivery schedule, which could result in lost revenue and deployment delays that could harm our business and customer relationships. If the demand for our Energy Servers or our production output decreases or does not rise as expected, we may not be able to spread a significant amount of our fixed costs over the production volume, resulting in a greater than expected per unit fixed cost, which would have a negative impact on our financial condition and our results of operations.
If we are not able to continue to reduce our cost structure in the future, our ability to become profitable may be impaired.
We must continue to reduce the manufacturing costs for our Energy Servers to expand our market. Additionally, certain of our existing service contracts were entered into based on projections regarding service costs reductions that assume continued advances in our manufacturing and services processes that we may be unable to realize. The cost of components and raw materials, for example, could increase in the future, offsetting any successes in reducing our manufacturing and services costs. Any such increases could slow our growth and cause our financial results and operational metrics to suffer. In addition, we may face increases in our other expenses including increases in wages or other labor costs as well as installation, marketing, sales or related costs. In order to expand into new electricity markets (in which the price of electricity from the grid is lower) while still maintaining our current margins, we will need to continue to reduce our costs. Increases in any of these costs or our failure to achieve projected cost reductions could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition and harm our business and prospects. If we are unable to reduce our cost structure in the future, we may not be able to achieve profitability, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and our prospects.
If our Energy Servers contain manufacturing defects, our business and financial results could be harmed.
Our Energy Servers are complex products and they may contain undetected or latent errors or defects. In the past, we have experienced latent defects only discovered once the Energy Server is deployed in the field. Changes in our supply chain or the failure of our suppliers to otherwise provide us with components or materials that meet our specifications could introduce defects into our products. As we grow our manufacturing volume, the chance of manufacturing defects could increase. In
addition, new product introductions or design changes made for the purpose of cost reduction, performance improvement, fulfilling new customer requirements or improved reliability could introduce new design defects that may impact Energy Server performance and life. Any design or manufacturing defects or other failures of our Energy Servers to perform as expected could cause us to incur significant service and re-engineering costs, divert the attention of our engineering personnel from product development efforts, and significantly and adversely affect customer satisfaction, market acceptance, and our business reputation.
Furthermore, we may be unable to correct manufacturing defects or other failures of our Energy Servers in a manner satisfactory to our customers, which could adversely affect customer satisfaction, market acceptance, and our business reputation.
The performance of our Energy Servers may be affected by factors outside of our control, which could result in harm to our business and financial results.
Field conditions, such as the quality of the natural gas supply and utility processes, which vary by region and may be subject to seasonal fluctuations or environmental factors such as smoke from wild fires, have affected the performance of our Energy Servers and are not always possible to predict until the Energy Server is in operation. As we move into new geographies and deploy new service configurations, we may encounter new and unanticipated field conditions. Adverse impacts on performance may require us to incur significant service and re-engineering costs or divert the attention of our engineering personnel from product development efforts. Furthermore, we may be unable to adequately address the impacts of factors outside of our control in a manner satisfactory to our customers. Any of these circumstances could significantly and adversely affect customer satisfaction, market acceptance, and our business reputation.
If our estimates of the useful life for our Energy Servers are inaccurate or we do not meet our performance warranties and performance guaranties, or if we fail to accrue adequate warranty and guaranty reserves, our business and financial results could be harmed.
We offer certain customers the opportunity to renew their O&M Agreements (defined herein) on an annual basis, for up to 30 years, at prices predetermined at the time of purchase of the Energy Server. We also provide performance warranties and performance guaranties covering the efficiency and output performance of our Energy Servers. Our pricing of these contracts and our reserves for warranty and replacement are based upon our estimates of the useful life of our Energy Servers and their components, including assumptions regarding improvements in power module life that may fail to materialize. We do not have a long history with a large number of field deployments, especially for new product introductions, and our estimates may prove to be incorrect. Failure to meet these warranty and performance guaranty levels may require us to replace the Energy Servers at our expense or refund their cost to the customer, or require us to make cash payments to the customer based on actual performance, as compared to expected performance, capped at a percentage of the relevant equipment purchase prices. We accrue for product warranty costs and recognize losses on service or performance warranties when required by U.S. GAAP based on our estimates of costs that may be incurred and based on historical experience. However, as we expect our customers to renew their O&M agreements each year, the total liability over time may be more than the accrual. Actual warranty expenses have in the past been and may in the future be greater than we have assumed in our estimates, the accuracy of which may be hindered due to our limited history operating at our current scale.
As of March 31, 2021, we had a total of 23 megawatts in total deployed early generation servers, including our first and second generation servers, out of our total acceptances, net of 568 megawatts. None of these early generation servers are recognized as our property, plant and equipment. We expect that our deployed early generation Energy Servers, if not upgraded with our more current generation power modules, may continue to perform at a lower output and efficiency level and, as a result, the maintenance costs may exceed the contracted prices that we expect to generate if our customers continue to renew their maintenance service agreements with respect to those servers. Further, the Energy Servers held on our condensed consolidated financial statements, including those acquired through our Managed Services Financing option and our Portfolio Financings, could be impaired or have their useful life shortened in the future if adequate maintenance services are not performed or if a determination is made to upgrade the Energy Servers.
Our business is subject to risks associated with construction, utility interconnection, cost overruns and delays, including those related to obtaining government permits and other contingencies that may arise in the course of completing installations.
Because we generally do not recognize revenue on the sales of our Energy Servers until installation and acceptance except where a third party is responsible for installation (such as in our sales in the Republic of Korea and certain cases in the United States), our financial results depend to a large extent on the timeliness of the installation of our Energy Servers.
Furthermore, in some cases, the installation of our Energy Servers may be on a fixed price basis, which subjects us to the risk of cost overruns or other unforeseen expenses in the installation process.
The construction, installation, and operation of our Energy Servers at a particular site is also generally subject to oversight and regulation in accordance with national, state, and local laws and ordinances relating to building codes, safety, environmental protection, and related matters, and typically require various local and other governmental approvals and permits, including environmental approvals and permits, that vary by jurisdiction. In some cases, these approvals and permits require periodic renewal. It is difficult and costly to track the requirements of every individual authority having jurisdiction over our installations, to design our Energy Servers to comply with these varying standards, and to obtain all applicable approvals and permits. We cannot predict whether or when all permits required for a given project will be granted or whether the conditions associated with the permits will be achievable. The denial of a permit or utility connection essential to a project or the imposition of impractical conditions would impair our ability to develop the project. In addition, we cannot predict whether the permitting process will be lengthened due to complexities and appeals. Delay in the review and permitting process for a project can impair or delay our and our customers’ abilities to develop that project or may increase the cost so substantially that the project is no longer attractive to us or our customers. Furthermore, unforeseen delays in the review and permitting process could delay the timing of the installation of our Energy Servers and could therefore adversely affect the timing of the recognition of revenue related to the installation, which could harm our operating results in a particular period.
In addition, the completion of many of our installations depends on the availability of and timely connection to the natural gas grid and the local electric grid. In some jurisdictions, local utility companies or the municipality have denied our request for connection or have required us to reduce the size of certain projects. In addition, some municipalities have recently adopted restrictions that prohibit any new construction that allows for the use of natural gas. For more information regarding these restrictions, please see the risk factor entitled "As a technology based, in part, on fossil fuel, we may be subject to a heightened risk of regulation, to a potential for the loss of certain incentives, and to changes in our customers’ energy procurement policies." Any delays in our ability to connect with utilities, delays in the performance of installation-related services, or poor performance of installation-related services by our general contractors or sub-contractors will have a material adverse effect on our results and could cause operating results to vary materially from period to period.
Furthermore, we rely on the ability of our third-party general contractors to install Energy Servers at our customers’ sites and to meet our installation requirements. We currently work with a limited number of general contractors, which has impacted and may continue to impact our ability to make installations as planned. Our work with contractors or their sub-contractors may have the effect of our being required to comply with additional rules (including rules unique to our customers), working conditions, site remediation, and other union requirements, which can add costs and complexity to an installation project. The timeliness, thoroughness, and quality of the installation-related services performed by some of our general contractors and their sub-contractors in the past have not always met our expectations or standards and may not meet our expectations and standards in the future.
Any significant disruption in the operations at our manufacturing facilities could delay the production of our Energy Servers, which would harm our business and results of operations.
We manufacture our Energy Servers in a limited number of manufacturing facilities, any of which could become unavailable either temporarily or permanently for any number of reasons, including equipment failure, material supply, public health emergencies or catastrophic weather or geologic events. For example, several of our manufacturing facilities are located in Northern California, an area that is susceptible to earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters. In the event of a significant disruption to our manufacturing process or supply chain, we may not be able to easily shift production to other facilities or to make up for lost production, which could result in harm to our reputation, increased costs, and lower revenues.
The failure of our suppliers to continue to deliver necessary raw materials or other components of our Energy Servers in a timely manner and to specification could prevent us from delivering our products within required time frames and could cause installation delays, cancellations, penalty payments, and damage to our reputation.
We rely on a limited number of third-party suppliers for some of the raw materials and components for our Energy Servers, including certain rare earth materials and other materials that may be of limited supply. If our suppliers provide insufficient inventory at the level of quality required to meet customer demand or if our suppliers are unable or unwilling to provide us with the contracted quantities (as we have limited or in some case no alternatives for supply), our results of operations could be materially and negatively impacted. If we fail to develop or maintain our relationships with our suppliers, or if there is otherwise a shortage or lack of availability of any required raw materials or components, we may be unable to manufacture our Energy Servers or our Energy Servers may be available only at a higher cost or after a long delay. Such delays
could prevent us from delivering our Energy Servers to our customers within required time frames and cause order cancellations. We have had to create our own supply chain for some of the components and materials utilized in our fuel cells. We have made significant expenditures in the past to develop our supply chain. In many cases, we entered into contractual relationships with suppliers to jointly develop the components we needed. These activities are time and capital intensive. Accordingly, the number of suppliers we have for some of our components and materials is limited and, in some cases, sole sourced. In addition, some of our suppliers use proprietary processes to manufacture components. We may be unable to obtain comparable components from alternative suppliers without considerable delay, expense, or at all, as replacing these suppliers could require us either to make significant investments to bring the capability in-house or to invest in a new supply chain partner. Some of our suppliers are smaller, private companies, heavily dependent on us as a customer. If our suppliers face difficulties obtaining the credit or capital necessary to expand their operations when needed, they could be unable to supply necessary raw materials and components needed to support our planned sales and services operations, which would negatively impact our sales volumes and cash flows.
Moreover, we have in the past and may in the future experience unanticipated disruptions to operations or other difficulties with our supply chain or internalized supply processes due to exchange rate fluctuations, volatility in regional markets from where materials are obtained (particularly China, India and Taiwan), changes in the general macroeconomic outlook, global trade disputes, political instability, expropriation or nationalization of property, public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, civil strife, strikes, insurrections, acts of terrorism, acts of war, or natural disasters. The failure by us to obtain raw materials or components in a timely manner or to obtain raw materials or components that meet our quantity and cost requirements could impair our ability to manufacture our Energy Servers or increase their costs or service costs of our existing portfolio of Energy Servers under maintenance services agreements. If we cannot obtain substitute materials or components on a timely basis or on acceptable terms, we could be prevented from delivering our Energy Servers to our customers within required time frames, which could result in sales and installation delays, cancellations, penalty payments, or damage to our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. In addition, we rely on our suppliers to meet quality standards, and the failure of our suppliers to meet or exceed those quality standards could cause delays in the delivery of our products, cause unanticipated servicing costs, and cause damage to our reputation.
We have, in some instances, entered into long-term supply agreements that could result in insufficient inventory and negatively affect our results of operations.
We have entered into long-term supply agreements with certain suppliers. Some of these supply agreements provide for fixed or inflation-adjusted pricing, substantial prepayment obligations and in a few cases, supplier purchase commitments. These arrangements could mean that we end up paying for inventory that we did not need or that was at a higher price than the market. Further, we face significant specific counterparty risk under long-term supply agreements when dealing with suppliers without a long, stable production and financial history. Given the uniqueness of our product, many of our suppliers do not have a long operating history and are private companies that may not have substantial capital resources. In the event any such supplier experiences financial difficulties, it may be difficult or impossible, or may require substantial time and expense, for us to recover any or all of our prepayments. We do not know whether we will be able to maintain long-term supply relationships with our critical suppliers or whether we may secure new long-term supply agreements. Additionally, many of our parts and materials are procured from foreign suppliers, which exposes us to risks including unforeseen increases in costs or interruptions in supply arising from changes in applicable international trade regulations such as taxes, tariffs, or quotas. Any of the foregoing could materially harm our financial condition and our results of operations.
We face supply chain competition, including competition from businesses in other industries, which could result in insufficient inventory and negatively affect our results of operations.
Certain of our suppliers also supply parts and materials to other businesses including businesses engaged in the production of consumer electronics and other industries unrelated to fuel cells. As a relatively low-volume purchaser of certain of these parts and materials, we may be unable to procure a sufficient supply of the items in the event that our suppliers fail to produce sufficient quantities to satisfy the demands of all of their customers, which could materially harm our financial condition and our results of operations.
We, and some of our suppliers, obtain capital equipment used in our manufacturing process from sole suppliers and, if this equipment is damaged or otherwise unavailable, our ability to deliver our Energy Servers on time will suffer.
Some of the capital equipment used to manufacture our products and some of the capital equipment used by our suppliers have been developed and made specifically for us, are not readily available from multiple vendors, and would be difficult to
repair or replace if they did not function properly. If any of these suppliers were to experience financial difficulties or go out of business or if there were any damage to or a breakdown of our manufacturing equipment and we could not obtain replacement equipment in a timely manner, our business would suffer. In addition, a supplier’s failure to supply this equipment in a timely manner with adequate quality and on terms acceptable to us could disrupt our production schedule or increase our costs of production and service.
Possible new trade tariffs could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our business is dependent on the availability of raw materials and components for our Energy Servers, particularly electrical components common in the semiconductor industry, specialty steel products / processing and raw materials. Tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum imports have increased the cost of raw materials for our Energy Servers and decreased the available supply. Additional new trade tariffs or other trade protection measures that are proposed or threatened and the potential escalation of a trade war and retaliation measures could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
To the extent practicable, given the limitations in supply chain previously discussed, our business is subject to the risk of price fluctuations and periodic delays in the delivery of certain raw materials, which tariffs may exacerbate despite our current alternative sources for these materials. Disruptions in the supply of raw materials and components could temporarily impair our ability to manufacture our Energy Servers for our customers or require us to pay higher prices in order to obtain these raw materials or components from other sources, which could affect our business and our results of operations. Consequently, the imposition of tariffs on items imported by us from China or other countries could increase our costs and could have a material adverse effect on our business and our results of operations.
A failure to properly comply (or to comply properly) with foreign trade zone laws and regulations could increase the cost of our duties and tariffs.
We have established two foreign trade zones, one in California and one in Delaware, through qualification with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and are approved for "zone to zone" transfers between our California and Delaware facilities. Materials received in a foreign trade zone are not subject to certain U.S. duties or tariffs until the material enters U.S. commerce. We benefit from the adoption of foreign trade zones by reduced duties, deferral of certain duties and tariffs, and reduced processing fees, which help us realize a reduction in duty and tariff costs. However, the operation of our foreign trade zones requires compliance with applicable regulations and continued support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection with respect to the foreign trade zone program. If we are unable to maintain the qualification of our foreign trade zones, or if foreign trade zones are limited or unavailable to us in the future, our duty and tariff costs would increase, which could have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Risks Related to Government Incentive Programs
Our business currently benefits from the availability of rebates, tax credits and other financial programs and incentives, and the reduction, modification, or elimination of such benefits could cause our revenue to decline and harm our financial results.
The U.S. federal government and some state and local governments provide incentives to end users and purchasers of our Energy Servers in the form of rebates, tax credits, and other financial incentives, such as system performance payments and payments for renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy generation. In addition, some countries outside the United States also provide incentives to end users and purchasers of our Energy Servers. We currently have operations and sell our Energy Servers in Japan, India, and the Republic of Korea (collectively, our "Asia Pacific region"), where in some locations such as the Republic of Korea, Renewable Portfolio Standards ("RPS") are in place to promote the adoption of renewable power generation, including fuel cells. Our Energy Servers have qualified for tax exemptions, incentives, or other customer incentives in many states including the states of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. Some states have utility procurement programs and/or renewable portfolio standards for which our technology is eligible. Our Energy Servers are currently installed in ten U.S. states, each of which may have its own enabling policy framework. We rely on these governmental rebates, tax credits, and other financial incentives to lower the effective price of the Energy Servers to our customers in the U. S. and the Asia Pacific region. Financiers and Equity Investors in our PPA Programs may also take advantage of these financial incentives, lowering the cost of capital and energy to our customers. However, these incentives or RPS may expire on a particular date, end when the allocated funding is exhausted, or be reduced or terminated as a matter of regulatory or legislative policy.
For example, the RPS is scheduled to be replaced at the beginning of 2022 with the Hydrogen Portfolio Standard (“HPS”). This may impact the demand for our Energy Servers in the Republic of Korea. Initially, we do not expect the HPS to require 100% hydrogen as an input fuel for fuel cell projects. The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Economy is running a stakeholder process in 2021 to determine the specifics of the HPS incentive mechanism. For the three months ended March 31, 2021 and for the year ended December 31, 2020, our revenue in the Republic of Korea accounted for 43% and 34% of our total revenue, respectively. Therefore, if sales of our Energy Servers to this market decline in the future, this may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
As another example, in the United States, commercial purchasers of fuel cells are eligible to claim the federal ITC. While the current administration has proposed extending the ITC for up to 10 years as part of its infrastructure plan, under current law the ITC will phase out on December 31, 2023, as noted below:
•installations that commence construction before January 1, 2023 are eligible for a 26% credit;
•installations that commence construction in 2023 are eligible for a 22% credit; and
•installations have to be placed in service by January 1, 2026 or the installations become ineligible for the credit.
The ITC program has operational criteria that extend for five years. If the energy property is disposed or otherwise ceases to be qualified investment credit property before the close of the five-year recapture period is fulfilled, it could result in a partial reduction of the incentives. In the case of a Portfolio Financing, the owner of the portfolio bears the risk of repayment if the assets placed in service do not meet the ITC operational criteria in the future.
As another example, many of our installations in California interconnect with investor-owned utilities on Fuel Cell Net Energy Metering (“FC NEM”) tariffs. It is not yet clear that the FC NEM tariffs will be available for new installations after December 31, 2021 and installations that are currently on FC NEM tariffs will have to meet more stringent standards regarding the emissions of greenhouse gases that are under development in order to remain eligible for the FC NEM tariffs. It is not certain that our efforts to obtain an acceptable substitute prior to that deadline will be successful. If our customers are unable to interconnect under the FC NEM tariffs the costs of interconnection may increase and such an increase may negatively impact demand for our products. Additionally, the uncertainty regarding the requirements for continued service under the FC NEM tariffs may negatively impact the perceived value or risks of our products, which may negatively impact demand for our products. Recognizing this, we are working with the appropriate regulatory channels to establish interconnection opportunities through an active proceeding at the California Public Utilities Commission. The proceeding, which is focused on the commercialization of microgrids, is currently ongoing, and we anticipate clarity on interconnection opportunities by late 2021.
Changes in the availability of rebates, tax credits, and other financial programs and incentives could reduce demand for our Energy Servers, impair sales financing, and adversely impact our business results. The continuation of these programs and incentives depends upon political support which to date has been bipartisan and durable. Nevertheless, one set of political activists aggressively seeks to eliminate these programs while another set seeks to deny access to these programs and incentives for any technology that relies on natural gas, regardless of the technology’s positive contribution to reducing air pollution, reducing carbon emissions or enabling electric service to be more reliable and resilient.
We rely on tax equity financing arrangements to realize the benefits provided by ITCs and accelerated tax depreciation and in the event these programs are terminated, our financial results could be harmed.
We expect that Energy Server deployments through certain of our financed transactions will receive capital from Equity Investors who derive a significant portion of their economic returns through tax benefits. Equity Investors are generally entitled to substantially all of the project’s tax benefits, such as those provided by the ITC and Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System ("MACRS") or bonus depreciation, until the Equity Investors achieve their respective agreed rates of return. The number of and available capital from potential Equity Investors is limited, we compete with other energy companies eligible for these tax benefits to access such investors, and the availability of capital from Equity Investors is subject to fluctuations based on factors outside of our control such as macroeconomic trends and changes in applicable taxation regimes. Concerns regarding our limited operating history, lack of profitability and that we are only the party who can perform operations and maintenance on our Energy Servers have made it difficult to attract investors in the past. Our ability to obtain additional financing in the future depends on the continued confidence of banks and other financing sources in our business model, the market for our Energy Servers, and the continued availability of tax benefits applicable to our Energy Servers. In addition, conditions in the general economy and financial and credit markets may result in the contraction of available tax equity financing. If we are unable to enter into tax equity financing agreements with attractive pricing terms, or at all, we may not be able to obtain the capital needed to fund our financing programs or use the tax benefits provided by the ITC and MACRS depreciation, which
could make it more difficult for customers to finance the purchase of our Energy Servers. Such circumstances could also require us to reduce the price at which we are able to sell our Energy Servers and therefore harm our business, our financial condition, and our results of operations.
Risks Related to Legal Matters and Regulations
We are subject to various environmental laws and regulations that could impose substantial costs upon us and cause delays in the delivery and installation of our Energy Servers.
We are subject to national, state, and local environmental laws and regulations as well as environmental laws in those foreign jurisdictions in which we operate. Environmental laws and regulations can be complex and may often change. These laws can give rise to liability for administrative oversight costs, cleanup costs, property damage, bodily injury, fines, and penalties. Capital and operating expenses needed to comply with environmental laws and regulations can be significant, and violations may result in substantial fines and penalties or third-party damages. In addition, maintaining compliance with applicable environmental laws requires significant time and management resources and could cause delays in our ability to build out, equip and operate our facilities as well as service our fleet, which would adversely impact our business, our prospects, our financial condition, and our operating results. In addition, environmental laws and regulations such as the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act in the United States impose liability on several grounds including for the investigation and cleanup of contaminated soil and ground water, for building contamination, for impacts to human health and for damages to natural resources. If contamination is discovered in the future at properties formerly owned or operated by us or currently owned or operated by us, or properties to which hazardous substances were sent by us, it could result in our liability under environmental laws and regulations. Many of our customers who purchase our Energy Servers have high sustainability standards, and any environmental noncompliance by us could harm our reputation and impact a current or potential customer’s buying decision. Additionally, in many cases we contractually commit to performing all necessary installation work on a fixed-price basis, and unanticipated costs associated with environmental remediation and/or compliance expenses may cause the cost of performing such work to exceed our revenue. The costs of complying with environmental laws, regulations, and customer requirements, and any claims concerning noncompliance or liability with respect to contamination in the future, could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or our operating results.
The installation and operation of our Energy Servers are subject to environmental laws and regulations in various jurisdictions, and there is uncertainty with respect to the interpretation of certain environmental laws and regulations to our Energy Servers, especially as these regulations evolve over time.
Bloom is committed to compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations including health and safety standards, and we continually review the operation of our Energy Servers for health, safety, and environmental compliance. Our Energy Servers, like other fuel cell technology-based products of which we are aware, produce small amounts of hazardous wastes and air pollutants, and we seek to address these in accordance with applicable regulatory standards.
Maintaining compliance with laws and regulations can be challenging given the changing patchwork of environmental laws and regulations that prevail at the federal, state, regional, and local level. Most existing environmental laws and regulations preceded the introduction of our innovative fuel cell technology and were adopted to apply to technologies existing at the time (i.e., large coal, oil, or gas-fired power plants). Currently, there is generally little guidance from these agencies on how certain environmental laws and regulations may or may not be applied to our technology.
For example, natural gas, which is the primary fuel used in our Energy Servers, contains benzene, which is classified as a hazardous waste if it exceeds 0.5 milligrams per liter. A small amount of benzene found in the public natural gas supply (equivalent to what is present in one gallon of gasoline in an automobile fuel tank, which are exempt from federal regulation) is collected by the gas cleaning units contained in our Energy Servers that are typically replaced once every 15 to 36 months by us from customers’ sites. From 2010 to late 2016 and in the regular course of maintenance of the Energy Servers, we periodically replaced the units in our servers relying upon a federal environmental exemption that permitted the handling of such units without manifesting the contents as containing a hazardous waste. Although over the years and with the approval of two states, we believed that we operated under the exemption, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") issued guidance for the first time in late 2016 that differed from our belief and conflicted with the state approvals we had obtained. We have complied with the new guidance and, given the comparatively small quantities of benzene produced, we do not anticipate significant additional costs or risks from our compliance with the revised 2016 guidance. In order to put this matter behind us and with no admission of law or fact, we agreed to a consent agreement that was ratified and incorporated by reference into a final order that was entered by an Environmental Appeals Judge for EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board in May of 2020. Consistent with the consent agreement and final order, a final payment of approximately $1.2 million was made in the fourth quarter of 2020 and
EPA has confirmed the matter is formally resolved. Additionally, a nominal penalty was paid to a state agency under that state’s environmental laws relating to the operation of our Energy Server under the exemption prior to the issuance of the revised EPA guidance.
Small amounts of chromium in the hexavalent form (“CR+6”), were previously a concern. Our Energy Servers do not present a significant health hazard based on our modeling, testing methodology, and measurements. There are several supporting elements to this position including that the potential for CR+6 emissions from our Energy Servers are in very low concentrations, are emitted as nanoparticles that convert to the non-hazardous form CR+3 rapidly, are quickly dispersed into the air, and are not emitted in close proximity to locations where people would be expected to have a prolonged exposure. Nevertheless, we have engineered a technology solution that we are deploying.
Several states in which we currently operate, including California, require permits for emissions of air pollutants based on the quantity of emissions, most of which require permits only for quantities of emissions that are higher than those observed from our Energy Servers. Other states in which we operate, including New York, New Jersey, and North Carolina, have specific exemptions for fuel cells. Some states in which we operate have CR+6 limits that are an order of magnitude over our operating range. Within California, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District requires a permit for emissions that are more than 0.00051 lbs/year. Other California regulations require that levels of CR+6 be below 0.00005 µg/m³, which is the level that triggers a Proposition 65 warning regarding the presence of CR+6 unless it can be shown to be at levels that do not pose a significant health risk. We have determined that the standards applicable in California in this regard are more stringent than those in any other state or foreign location in which we have installed Energy Servers to date, therefore, deployment of our solution has been focused on California's standards.
While we seek to comply with air quality and emission standards in every region in which we operate, it is possible that certain customers in other regions may request that we provide a new technology solution for their Energy Servers to comply with the stricter standards imposed by California. We currently plan to satisfy these requests from customers. Failure or delay in attaining regulatory approval could result in our not being able to operate in a particular local jurisdiction.
These examples illustrate that our technology is moving faster than the regulatory process in many instances. It is possible that regulators could delay or prevent us from conducting our business in some way pending agreement on, and compliance with, shifting regulatory requirements. Such actions could delay the installation of Energy Servers, could result in penalties, could require modification or replacement or could trigger claims of performance warranties and defaults under customer contracts that could require us to repurchase their Energy Servers, any of which could adversely affect our business, our financial performance, and our reputation. In addition, new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations could present marketing, political or regulatory challenges and could require us to upgrade or retrofit existing equipment, which could result in materially increased capital and operating expenses.
Furthermore, we have not yet determined whether our Energy Servers will satisfy regulatory requirements in the other states in the United States and in international locations in which we do not currently sell Energy Servers but may pursue in the future.
As a technology based, in part, on fossil fuel, we may be subject to a heightened risk of regulation, to a potential for the loss of certain incentives, and to changes in our customers’ energy procurement policies.
Although the current generation of our Energy Servers running on natural gas produce nearly 23% less carbon emissions compared to the average of U.S. combustion power generation, the operation of our Energy Servers does produce carbon dioxide ("CO2"), which has been shown to be a contributing factor to global climate change. As such, we may be negatively impacted by CO2-related changes in applicable laws, regulations, ordinances, rules, or the requirements of the incentive programs on which we and our customers currently rely. Changes (or a lack of change to comprehensively recognize the risks of climate change and recognize the benefit of our technology as one means to maintain reliable and resilient electric service with a lower greenhouse gas emission profile) in any of the laws, regulations, ordinances, or rules that apply to our installations and new technology could make it illegal or more costly for us or our customers to install and operate our Energy Servers on particular sites, thereby negatively affecting our ability to deliver cost savings to customers, or we could be prohibited from completing new installations or continuing to operate existing projects. Certain municipalities in California have already banned the use of distributed generation products that utilize fossil fuel. Additionally, our customers’ and potential customers’ energy procurement policies may prohibit or limit their willingness to procure our Energy Servers. Our business prospects may be negatively impacted if we are prevented from completing new installations or our installations become more costly as a result of laws, regulations, ordinances, or rules applicable to our Energy Servers, or by our customers’ and potential customers’ energy procurement policies.
Existing regulations and changes to such regulations impacting the electric power industry may create technical, regulatory, and economic barriers, which could significantly reduce demand for our Energy Servers or affect the financial performance of current sites.
The market for electricity generation products is heavily influenced by U.S. federal, state, local, and foreign government regulations and policies as well as by internal policies and regulations of electric utility providers. These regulations and policies often relate to electricity pricing and technical interconnection of customer-owned electricity generation. These regulations and policies are often modified and could continue to change, which could result in a significant reduction in demand for our Energy Servers. For example, utility companies commonly charge fees to larger industrial customers for disconnecting from the electric grid or for having the capacity to use power from the electric grid for back-up purposes. These fees could change, thereby increasing the cost to our customers of using our Energy Servers and making them less economically attractive.
In addition, our project with Delmarva Power & Light Company (the "Delaware Project") is subject to laws and regulations relating to electricity generation, transmission, and sale in Delaware and at the federal level.
A law governing the sale of electricity from the Delaware Project was necessary to implement part of several incentives that Delaware offered to us to build our major manufacturing facility ("Manufacturing Center") in Delaware. Those incentives have proven controversial in Delaware, in part because our Manufacturing Center, while a significant source of continuing manufacturing employment, has not expanded as quickly as projected. The opposition to the Delaware Project is an example of potentially material risks associated with electric power regulation.
At the federal level, FERC has authority to regulate under various federal energy regulatory laws, wholesale sales of electric energy, capacity, and ancillary services, and the delivery of natural gas in interstate commerce. Also, several of the tax equity partnerships in which we have an interest are subject to regulation under FERC with respect to market-based sales of electricity, which requires us to file notices and make other periodic filings with FERC, which increases our costs and subjects us to additional regulatory oversight.
Although we generally are not regulated as a utility, federal, state, and local government statutes and regulations concerning electricity heavily influence the market for our product and services. These statutes and regulations often relate to electricity pricing, net metering, incentives, taxation, and the rules surrounding the interconnection of customer-owned electricity generation for specific technologies. In the United States, governments frequently modify these statutes and regulations. Governments, often acting through state utility or public service commissions, change and adopt different requirements for utilities and rates for commercial customers on a regular basis. Changes, or in some cases a lack of change, in any of the laws, regulations, ordinances, or other rules that apply to our installations and new technology could make it more costly for us or our customers to install and operate our Energy Servers on particular sites and, in turn, could negatively affect our ability to deliver cost savings to customers for the purchase of electricity.
We may become subject to product liability claims, which could harm our financial condition and liquidity if we are not able to successfully defend or insure against such claims.
We may in the future become subject to product liability claims. Our Energy Servers are considered high energy systems because they use flammable fuels and may operate at 480 volts. Although our Energy Servers are certified to meet ANSI, IEEE, ASME, and NFPA design and safety standards, if an Energy Server is not properly handled in accordance with our servicing and handling standards and protocols, there could be a system failure and resulting liability. These claims could require us to incur significant costs to defend. Furthermore, any successful product liability claim could require us to pay a substantial monetary award. Moreover, a product liability claim could generate substantial negative publicity about us and our Energy Servers, which could harm our brand, our business prospects, and our operating results. Our product liability insurance may not be sufficient to cover all potential product liability claims. Any lawsuit seeking significant monetary damages either in excess of our coverage or outside of our coverage may have a material adverse effect on our business and our financial condition.
Current or future litigation or administrative proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our business, our financial condition and our results of operations.
We have been and continue to be involved in legal proceedings, administrative proceedings, claims, and other litigation that arise in the ordinary course of business. Purchases of our products have also been the subject of litigation. For information regarding pending legal proceedings, please see Part II, Item 1, Legal Proceedings and Note 13 - Commitments and Contingencies in Part I, Item 1, Financial Statements. In addition, since our Energy Server is a new type of product in a nascent market, we have in the past needed and may in the future need to seek the amendment of existing regulations, or in some cases the development of new regulations, in order to operate our business in some jurisdictions. Such regulatory processes may require public hearings concerning our business, which could expose us to subsequent litigation.
Unfavorable outcomes or developments relating to proceedings to which we are a party or transactions involving our products such as judgments for monetary damages, injunctions, or denial or revocation of permits, could have a material adverse effect on our business, our financial condition, and our results of operations. In addition, settlement of claims could adversely affect our financial condition and our results of operations.
Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property
Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position, and litigation to protect our intellectual property rights may be costly.
Policing unauthorized use of proprietary technology can be difficult and expensive, and the protective measures we have taken to protect our trade secrets may not be sufficient to prevent such use. For example, many of our engineers reside in California where it is not legally permissible to prevent them from working for a competitor. Also, litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Such litigation may result in our intellectual property rights being challenged, limited in scope, or declared invalid or unenforceable. We cannot be certain that the outcome of any litigation will be in our favor, and an adverse determination in any such litigation could impair our intellectual property rights, our business, our prospects, and our reputation.
We rely primarily on patent, trade secret, and trademark laws and non-disclosure, confidentiality, and other types of contractual restrictions to establish, maintain, and enforce our intellectual property and proprietary rights. However, our rights under these laws and agreements afford us only limited protection and the actions we take to establish, maintain, and enforce our intellectual property rights may not be adequate. For example, our trade secrets and other confidential information could be disclosed in an unauthorized manner to third parties, our owned or licensed intellectual property rights could be challenged, invalidated, circumvented, infringed, or misappropriated or our intellectual property rights may not be sufficient to provide us with a competitive advantage, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or operating results. In addition, the laws of some countries do not protect proprietary rights as fully as do the laws of the United States. As a result, we may not be able to protect our proprietary rights adequately abroad.
In connection with our expansion into new markets, we may need to develop relationships with new partners,
including project developers and/or financiers who may require access to certain of our intellectual property in order to mitigate perceived risks regarding our ability to service their projects over the contracted project duration. If we are unable to come to agreement regarding the terms of such access or find alternative means to address this perceived risk, such failure may negatively impact our ability to expand into new markets. Alternatively, we may be required to develop new strategies for the protection of our intellectual property, which may be less protective than our current strategies and could therefore erode our competitive position.
Our patent applications may not result in issued patents, and our issued patents may not provide adequate protection, either of which may have a material adverse effect on our ability to prevent others from commercially exploiting products similar to ours.
We cannot be certain that our pending patent applications will result in issued patents or that any of our issued patents will afford protection against a competitor. The status of patents involves complex legal and factual questions, and the breadth of claims allowed is uncertain. As a result, we cannot be certain that the patent applications that we file will result in patents being issued or that our patents and any patents that may be issued to us in the future will afford protection against competitors with similar technology. In addition, patent applications filed in foreign countries are subject to laws, rules, and procedures that differ from those of the United States, and thus we cannot be certain that foreign patent applications related to issued U.S.
patents will be issued in other regions. Furthermore, even if these patent applications are accepted and the associated patents issued, some foreign countries provide significantly less effective patent enforcement than in the United States.
In addition, patents issued to us may be infringed upon or designed around by others and others may obtain patents that we need to license or design around, either of which would increase costs and may adversely affect our business, our prospects, and our operating results.
We may need to defend ourselves against claims that we infringed, misappropriated, or otherwise violated the intellectual property rights of others, which may be time-consuming and would cause us to incur substantial costs.
Companies, organizations, or individuals, including our competitors, may hold or obtain patents, trademarks, or other proprietary rights that they may in the future believe are infringed by our products or services. These companies holding patents or other intellectual property rights allegedly relating to our technologies could, in the future, make claims or bring suits alleging infringement, misappropriation, or other violations of such rights, or otherwise assert their rights and by seeking licenses or injunctions. Several of the proprietary components used in our Energy Servers have been subjected to infringement challenges in the past. We also generally indemnify our customers against claims that the products we supply don't infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate third party intellectual property rights, and we therefore may be required to defend our customers against such claims. If a claim is successfully brought in the future and we or our products are determined to have infringed, misappropriated, or otherwise violated a third party’s intellectual property rights, we may be required to do one or more of the following:
•cease selling or using our products that incorporate the challenged intellectual property;
•pay substantial damages (including treble damages and attorneys’ fees if our infringement is determined to be willful);
•obtain a license from the holder of the intellectual property right, which may not be available on reasonable terms or at all; or
•redesign our products or means of production, which may not be possible or cost-effective.
Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, prospects, operating results, and financial condition. In addition, any litigation or claims, whether or not valid, could harm our reputation, result in substantial costs and divert resources and management attention.
We also license technology from third parties and incorporate components supplied by third parties into our products. We may face claims that our use of such technology or components infringes or otherwise violates the rights of others, which would subject us to the risks described above. We may seek indemnification from our licensors or suppliers under our contracts with them, but our rights to indemnification or our suppliers’ resources may be unavailable or insufficient to cover our costs and losses.
Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Operating Results
We have incurred significant losses in the past and we may not be profitable for the foreseeable future.
Since our inception in 2001, we have incurred significant net losses and have used significant cash in our business. As of March 31, 2021, we had an accumulated deficit of $3.1 billion. We expect to continue to expand our operations, including by investing in manufacturing, sales and marketing, research and development, staffing systems, and infrastructure to support our growth. We anticipate that we will incur net losses for the foreseeable future. Our ability to achieve profitability in the future will depend on a number of factors, including:
•growing our sales volume;
•increasing sales to existing customers and attracting new customers;
•expanding into new geographical markets and industry market sectors;
•attracting and retaining financing partners who are willing to provide financing for sales on a timely basis and with attractive terms;
•continuing to improve the useful life of our fuel cell technology and reducing our warranty servicing costs;
•reducing the cost of producing our Energy Servers;
•improving the efficiency and predictability of our installation process;
•improving the effectiveness of our sales and marketing activities;
•attracting and retaining key talent in a competitive marketplace; and
•the amount of stock-based compensation recognized in the period.
Even if we do achieve profitability, we may be unable to sustain or increase our profitability in the future.
Our financial condition and results of operations and other key metrics are likely to fluctuate on a quarterly basis in future periods, which could cause our results for a particular period to fall below expectations, resulting in a severe decline in the price of our Class A common stock.
Our financial condition and results of operations and other key metrics have fluctuated significantly in the past and may continue to fluctuate in the future due to a variety of factors, many of which are beyond our control. For example, the amount of product revenue we recognize in a given period is materially dependent on the volume of installations of our Energy Servers in that period and the type of financing used by the customer.
In addition to the other risks described herein, the following factors could also cause our financial condition and results of operations to fluctuate on a quarterly basis:
•the timing of installations, which may depend on many factors such as availability of inventory, product quality or performance issues, or local permitting requirements, utility requirements, environmental, health, and safety requirements, weather, the COVID-19 pandemic or such other health emergency, and customer facility construction schedules;
•size of particular installations and number of sites involved in any particular quarter;
•the mix in the type of purchase or financing options used by customers in a period, the geographical mix of customer sales, and the rates of return required by financing parties in such period;
•whether we are able to structure our sales agreements in a manner that would allow for the product and installation revenue to be recognized upfront;
•delays or cancellations of Energy Server installations;
•fluctuations in our service costs, particularly due to unexpected costs of servicing and maintaining Energy Servers;
•weaker than anticipated demand for our Energy Servers due to changes in government incentives and policies or due to other conditions;
•fluctuations in our research and development expense, including periodic increases associated with the pre-production qualification of additional tools as we expand our production capacity;
•interruptions in our supply chain;
•the length of the sales and installation cycle for a particular customer;
•the timing and level of additional purchases by existing customers;
•unanticipated expenses or installation delays associated with changes in governmental regulations, permitting requirements by local authorities at particular sites, utility requirements and environmental, health, and safety requirements;
•disruptions in our sales, production, service or other business activities resulting from disagreements with our labor force or our inability to attract and retain qualified personnel; and
•unanticipated changes in federal, state, local, or foreign government incentive programs available for us, our customers, and tax equity financing parties.
Fluctuations in our operating results and cash flow could, among other things, give rise to short-term liquidity issues. In addition, our revenue, key operating metrics, and other operating results in future quarters may fall short of our projections or the expectations of investors and financial analysts, which could have an adverse effect on the price of our Class A common stock.
If we fail to manage our growth effectively, our business and operating results may suffer.
Our current growth and future growth plans may make it difficult for us to efficiently operate our business, challenging us to effectively manage our capital expenditures and control our costs while we expand our operations to increase our revenue. If we experience a significant growth in orders without improvements in automation and efficiency, we may need additional manufacturing capacity and we and some of our suppliers may need additional and capital intensive equipment. Any growth in manufacturing must include a scaling of quality control as the increase in production increases the possible impact of manufacturing defects. In addition, any growth in the volume of sales of our Energy Servers may outpace our ability to engage sufficient and experienced personnel to manage the higher number of installations and to engage contractors to complete installations on a timely basis and in accordance with our expectations and standards. Any failure to manage our growth effectively could materially and adversely affect our business, our prospects, our operating results, and our financial condition. Our future operating results depend to a large extent on our ability to manage this expansion and growth successfully.
The accounting treatment related to our revenue-generating transactions is complex, and if we are unable to attract and retain highly qualified accounting personnel to evaluate the accounting implications of our complex or non-routine transactions, our ability to accurately report our financial results may be harmed.
Our revenue-generating transactions include the Traditional Lease, Managed Services Financings, sales to international channel partners, and Portfolio Financings, all of which are accounted for differently in our condensed consolidated financial statements. Many of the accounting rules related to our financing transactions are complex and require experienced and highly skilled personnel to review and interpret the proper accounting treatment with respect thereto. Competition for senior finance and accounting personnel in the San Francisco Bay Area who have public company reporting experience is intense, and if we are unable to recruit and retain personnel with the required level of expertise to evaluate and accurately classify our revenue-producing transactions, our ability to accurately report our financial results may be harmed.
If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected.
We are required to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("Sarbanes-Oxley Act"). The provisions of the act require, among other things, that we maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. Preparing our financial statements involves a number of complex processes, many of which are done manually and are dependent upon individual data input or review. These processes include, but are not limited to, calculating revenue, deferred revenue and inventory costs. While we continue to automate our processes and enhance our review and put in place controls to reduce the likelihood for errors, we expect that for the foreseeable future many of our processes will remain manually intensive and thus subject to human error if we are unable to implement key operation controls around pricing, spending and other financial processes. For example, prior to our adoption of Section 404B of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2019 related to the accounting for and disclosure of complex or non-routine transactions, which has been remediated. If we are unable to successfully maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we may fail to prevent or detect material misstatements in our financial statements, in which case investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports. Any failure to maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures or internal control over financial reporting could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results and cause a decline in the price of our Class A common stock.
Our ability to use our deferred tax assets to offset future taxable income may be subject to limitations that could subject our business to higher tax liability.
We may be limited in the portion of net operating loss carryforwards ("NOLs") that we can use in the future to offset taxable income for U.S. federal and state income tax purposes. Our NOLs will expire, if unused, beginning in 2022 and 2028, respectively. A lack of future taxable income would adversely affect our ability to utilize these NOLs. In addition, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its NOLs to offset future taxable income. Changes in our stock ownership as well as other changes that may be outside of our control could result in ownership changes under Section 382 of the Code, which could cause our NOLs to be subject to certain limitations. Our NOLs may also be impaired under similar
provisions of state law. Our deferred tax assets, which are currently fully reserved with a valuation allowance, may expire unutilized or underutilized, which could prevent us from offsetting future taxable income.
Risks Related to Our Liquidity
We must maintain the confidence of our customers in our liquidity, including in our ability to timely service our debt obligations and in our ability to grow our business over the long-term.
Currently, we are the only provider able to fully support and maintain our Energy Servers. If potential customers believe we do not have sufficient capital or liquidity to operate our business over the long-term or that we will be unable to maintain their Energy Servers and provide satisfactory support, customers may be less likely to purchase or lease our products, particularly in light of the significant financial commitment required. In addition, financing sources may be unwilling to provide financing on reasonable terms. Similarly, suppliers, financing partners, and other third parties may be less likely to invest time and resources in developing business relationships with us if they have concerns about the success of our business.
Accordingly, in order to grow our business, we must maintain confidence in our liquidity and long-term business prospects among customers, suppliers, financing partners, and other parties. This may be particularly complicated by factors such as:
•our limited operating history at a large scale;
•the size of our debt obligations;
•our lack of profitability;
•unfamiliarity with or uncertainty about our Energy Servers and the overall perception of the distributed generation market;
•prices for electricity or natural gas in particular markets;
•competition from alternate sources of energy;
•warranty or unanticipated service issues we may experience;
•the environmental consciousness and perceived value of environmental programs to our customers;
•the size of our expansion plans in comparison to our existing capital base and the scope and history of operations;
•the availability and amount of tax incentives, credits, subsidies or other incentive programs; and
•the other factors set forth in this “Risk Factors” section.
Several of these factors are largely outside our control, and any negative perceptions about our liquidity or long-term business prospects, even if unfounded, would likely harm our business.
Our substantial indebtedness, and restrictions imposed by the agreements governing our and our PPA Entities’ outstanding indebtedness, may limit our financial and operating activities and may adversely affect our ability to incur additional debt to fund future needs.
As of March 31, 2021, we and our subsidiaries had approximately $508.5 million of total consolidated indebtedness, of which an aggregate of $290.1 million represented indebtedness that is recourse to us, all of which is classified as non-current. Of this $290.1 million in debt, $68.7 million represented debt under our 10.25% Senior Secured Notes (the "10.25% Senior Secured Notes"), and $221.4 million represented debt under the $230.0 million aggregate principal amount of our 2.50% Green Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 (the "Green Notes"). In addition, our PPA Entities’ (defined herein) outstanding indebtedness of $218.4 million represented indebtedness that is non-recourse to us. For a description and definition of PPA Entities, please see Part I, Item 2, Management’s Discussion and Analysis – Purchase and Lease Options – Portfolio Financings. The agreements governing our and our PPA Entities’ outstanding indebtedness contain, and other future debt agreements may contain, covenants imposing operating and financial restrictions on our business that limit our flexibility including, among other things:
•borrow money;
•pay dividends or make other distributions;
•incur liens;
•make asset dispositions;
•make loans or investments;
•issue or sell share capital of our subsidiaries;
•issue guaranties;
•enter into transactions with affiliates;
•merge, consolidate or sell, lease or transfer all or substantially all of our assets;
•require us to dedicate a substantial portion of cash flow from operations to the payment of principal and interest on indebtedness, thereby reducing the funds available for other purposes such as working capital and capital expenditures;
•make it more difficult for us to satisfy and comply with our obligations with respect to our indebtedness;
•subject us to increased sensitivity to interest rate increases;
•make us more vulnerable to economic downturns, adverse industry conditions, or catastrophic external events;
•limit our ability to withstand competitive pressures;
•limit our ability to invest in new business subsidiaries that are not PPA Entity-related;
•reduce our flexibility in planning for or responding to changing business, industry, and economic conditions; and/or
•place us at a competitive disadvantage to competitors that have relatively less debt than we have.
Our PPA Entities’ debt agreements require the maintenance of financial ratios or the satisfaction of financial tests such as debt service coverage ratios and consolidated leverage ratios. Our PPA Entities’ ability to meet these financial ratios and tests may be affected by events beyond our control and, as a result, we cannot assure you that we will be able to meet these ratios and tests.
Upon the occurrence of certain events to us, including a change in control, a significant asset sale or merger or similar transaction, our liquidation or dissolution or the cessation of our stock exchange listing, each of which may constitute a fundamental change under the outstanding notes, holders of certain of the notes have the right to cause us to repurchase for cash any or all of such outstanding notes. We cannot provide assurance that we would have sufficient liquidity to repurchase such notes. Furthermore, our financing and debt agreements contain events of default. If an event of default were to occur, the trustee or the lenders could, among other things, terminate their commitments and declare outstanding amounts due and payable and our cash may become restricted. We cannot provide assurance that we would have sufficient liquidity to repay or refinance our
indebtedness if such amounts were accelerated upon an event of default. Borrowings under other debt instruments that contain cross-acceleration or cross-default provisions may, as a result, be accelerated and become due and payable as a consequence. We may be unable to pay these debts in such circumstances. We cannot provide assurance that the operating and financial restrictions and covenants in these agreements will not adversely affect our ability to finance our future operations or capital needs, or our ability to engage in other business activities that may be in our interest or our ability to react to adverse market developments.
As of March 31, 2021, we and our subsidiaries have approximately $508.5 million of total consolidated indebtedness, including $118.5 million in short-term debt and $390.0 million in long-term debt. Given our substantial level of indebtedness, it may be difficult for us to secure additional debt financing at an attractive cost, which may in turn impact our ability to expand our operations and our product development activities and to remain competitive in the market.
Our liquidity needs could vary significantly and may be affected by general economic conditions, industry trends, performance, and many other factors not within our control.
We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to meet our debt service obligations.
Our ability to generate sufficient cash to make scheduled payments on our debt obligations will depend on our future financial performance and on our future cash flow performance, which will be affected by a range of economic, competitive, and business factors, many of which are outside of our control.
We finance a significant volume of Energy Servers and receive equity distributions from certain of the PPA Entities that purchase the Energy Servers and other project intangibles through a series of milestone payments. The milestone payments and equity distributions contribute to our cash flow. These PPA Entities are separate and distinct legal entities, do not guarantee our debt obligations, and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay amounts due under our debt obligations or to make any funds available to pay those amounts, whether by dividend, distribution, loan, or other payments. It is possible that the PPA Entities may not contribute significant cash to us.
If we do not generate sufficient cash to satisfy our debt obligations, including interest payments, or if we are unable to satisfy the requirement for the payment of principal at maturity or other payments that may be required from time to time under the terms of our debt instruments, we may have to undertake alternative financing plans such as refinancing or restructuring our debt, selling assets, reducing or delaying capital investments, or seeking to raise additional capital. We cannot provide assurance that any refinancing or restructuring would be possible, that any assets could be sold, or, if sold, of the timing of the sales and the amount of proceeds realized from those sales, that additional financing could be obtained on acceptable terms, if at all, or that additional financing would be available or permitted under the terms of our various debt instruments then in effect. Furthermore, the ability to refinance indebtedness would depend upon the condition of the finance and credit markets at the time which have in the past been, and may in the future be, volatile. Our inability to generate sufficient cash to satisfy our debt obligations or to refinance our obligations on commercially reasonable terms or on a timely basis would have an adverse effect on our business, our results of operations and our financial condition.
Under some circumstances, we may be required to or elect to make additional payments to our PPA Entities or the Equity Investors.
Three of our PPA Entities are structured in a manner such that, other than the amount of any equity investment we have made, we do not have any further primary liability for the debts or other obligations of the PPA Entities. All of our PPA Entities that operate Energy Servers for end customers have significant restrictions on their ability to incur increased operating costs, or could face events of default under debt or other investment agreements if end customers are not able to meet their payment obligations under PPAs or if Energy Servers are not deployed in accordance with the project’s schedule. In three cases, if our PPA Entities experience unexpected, increased costs such as insurance costs, interest expense or taxes or as a result of the acceleration of repayment of outstanding indebtedness, or if end customers are unable or unwilling to continue to purchase power under their PPAs, there could be insufficient cash generated from the project to meet the debt service obligations of the PPA Entity or to meet any targeted rates of return of Equity Investors. If a PPA Entity fails to make required debt service payments, this could constitute an event of default and entitle the lender to foreclose on the collateral securing the debt or could trigger other payment obligations of the PPA Entity. To avoid this, we could choose to contribute additional capital to the applicable PPA Entity to enable such PPA Entity to make payments to avoid an event of default, which could adversely affect our business or our financial condition.
Risks Related to Our Operations
We may have conflicts of interest with our PPA Entities.
In most of our PPA Entities, we act as the managing member and are responsible for the day-to-day administration of the project. However, we are also a major service provider for each PPA Entity in our capacity as the operator of the Energy Servers under an operations and maintenance agreement. Because we are both the administrator and the manager of our PPA Entities, as well as a major service provider, we face a potential conflict of interest in that we may be obligated to enforce contractual rights that a PPA Entity has against us in our capacity as a service provider. By way of example, a PPA Entity may have a right to payment from us under a warranty provided under the applicable operations and maintenance agreement, and we may be financially motivated to avoid or delay this liability by failing to promptly enforce this right on behalf of the PPA Entity. While we do not believe that we had any conflicts of interest with our PPA Entities as of March 31, 2021, conflicts of interest may arise in the future that cannot be foreseen at this time. In the event that prospective future Equity Investors and debt financing partners perceive there to exist any such conflicts, it could harm our ability to procure financing for our PPA Entities in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Expanding operations internationally could expose us to additional risks.
Although we currently primarily operate in the United States, we continue to expand our business internationally. We currently have operations in the Asia Pacific region and more recently Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Managing any international expansion will require additional resources and controls including additional manufacturing and assembly facilities. Any expansion internationally could subject our business to risks associated with international operations, including:
•conformity with applicable business customs, including translation into foreign languages and associated expenses;
•lack of availability of government incentives and subsidies;
•challenges in arranging, and availability of, financing for our customers;
•potential changes to our established business model;
•cost of alternative power sources, which could be meaningfully lower outside the United States;
•availability and cost of natural gas;
•difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations in an environment of diverse culture, laws, and customers, and the increased travel, infrastructure, and legal and compliance costs associated with international operations;
•installation challenges which we have not encountered before which may require the development of a unique model for each country;
•compliance with multiple, potentially conflicting and changing governmental laws, regulations, and permitting processes including environmental, banking, employment, tax, privacy, and data protection laws and regulations such as the EU Data Privacy Directive;
•compliance with U.S. and foreign anti-bribery laws including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Anti-Bribery Act;
•greater difficulties in securing or enforcing our intellectual property rights in certain jurisdictions;
•difficulties in collecting payments in foreign currencies and associated foreign currency exposure;
•restrictions on repatriation of earnings;
•compliance with potentially conflicting and changing laws of taxing jurisdictions where we conduct business and compliance with applicable U.S. tax laws as they relate to international operations, the complexity and adverse consequences of such tax laws, and potentially adverse tax consequences due to changes in such tax laws; and
•regional economic and political conditions.
In addition, a portion of our sales and expenses stem from countries outside of the United States, and are in currencies other than U.S. dollars, and therefore subject to foreign currency fluctuation. Accordingly, fluctuations in foreign currency rates
could have a material impact on our financial results in future periods. As a result of these risks, any potential future international expansion efforts that we may undertake may not be successful, which may harm our ability for future growth.
If we are unable to attract and retain key employees and hire qualified management, technical, engineering, and sales personnel, our ability to compete and successfully grow our business could be harmed.
We believe that our success and our ability to reach our strategic objectives are highly dependent on the contributions of our key management, technical, engineering, and sales personnel. The loss of the services of any of our key employees could disrupt our operations, delay the development and introduction of our products and services and negatively impact our business, prospects, and operating results. In particular, we are highly dependent on the services of Dr. Sridhar, our Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, and other key employees. None of our key employees is bound by an employment agreement for any specific term. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully attract and retain senior leadership necessary to grow our business. Furthermore, there is increasing competition for talented individuals in our field, and competition for qualified personnel is especially intense in the San Francisco Bay Area where our principal offices are located. Our failure to attract and retain our executive officers and other key management, technical, engineering, and sales personnel could adversely impact our business, our prospects, our financial condition, and our operating results. In addition, we do not have “key person” life insurance policies covering any of our officers or other key employees.
A breach or failure of our networks or computer or data management systems could damage our operations and our reputation.
Our business is dependent on the security and efficacy of our networks and computer and data management systems. For example, our Energy Servers are connected to and controlled and monitored by our centralized remote monitoring service, and we rely on our internal computer networks for many of the systems we use to operate our business generally. The security of our infrastructure, including the network that connects our Energy Servers to our remote monitoring service, may be vulnerable to breaches, unauthorized access, misuse, computer viruses, or other malicious code and cyber-attacks that could have a material adverse impact on our business and our Energy Servers in the field, and the protective measures we have taken may be insufficient to prevent such events. A breach or failure of our networks or computer or data management systems due to intentional actions such as cyber-attacks, negligence, or other reasons could seriously disrupt our operations or could affect our ability to control or to assess the performance in the field of our Energy Servers and could result in disruption to our business and potentially legal liability. In addition, if certain of our IT systems failed, our production line might be affected, which could impact our business and operating results. These events, in addition to impacting our financial results, could result in significant costs or reputational consequences.
Our headquarters and other facilities are located in an active earthquake zone, and an earthquake or other types of natural disasters or resource shortages, including public safety power shut-offs that have occurred and will continue to occur in California, could disrupt and harm our results of operations.
We conduct a majority of our operations in the San Francisco Bay area in an active earthquake zone, and certain of our facilities are located within known flood plains. The occurrence of a natural disaster such as an earthquake, drought, flood, fire, localized extended outages of critical utilities (such as California's public safety power shut-offs) or transportation systems, or any critical resource shortages could cause a significant interruption in our business, damage or destroy our facilities, our manufacturing equipment, or our inventory, and cause us to incur significant costs, any of which could harm our business, our financial condition, and our results of operations. The insurance we maintain against fires, earthquakes and other natural disasters may not be adequate to cover our losses in any particular case.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
The stock price of our Class A common stock has been and may continue to be volatile.
The market price of our Class A common stock has been and may continue to be volatile. In addition to factors discussed in this Risk Factors section, the market price of our Class A common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including:
•overall performance of the equity markets;
•actual or anticipated fluctuations in our revenue and other operating results;
•changes in the financial projections we may provide to the public or our failure to meet these projections;
•failure of securities analysts to initiate or maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by any securities analysts who follow us or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;
•the issuance of reports from short sellers that may negatively impact the trading price of our Class A common stock;
•recruitment or departure of key personnel;
•the economy as a whole and market conditions in our industry;
•new laws, regulations, subsidies, or credits or new interpretations of them applicable to our business;
•negative publicity related to problems in our manufacturing or the real or perceived quality of our products;
•rumors and market speculation involving us or other companies in our industry;
•announcements by us or our competitors of significant technical innovations, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, or capital commitments;
•lawsuits threatened or filed against us;
•other events or factors including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism or responses to these events; and
•sales or anticipated sales of shares of our Class A common stock by us or our stockholders.
In addition, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. Stock prices of many companies have fluctuated in a manner unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. In the past, stockholders have instituted securities class action litigation following periods of market volatility. We are currently involved in securities litigation, which may subject us to substantial costs, divert resources and the attention of management from our business, and adversely affect our business.
The dual class structure of our common stock and the voting agreements among certain stockholders have the effect of concentrating voting control of our Company with KR Sridhar, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and also with those stockholders who held our capital stock prior to the completion of our initial public offering, including our directors, executive officers and significant stockholders, which limits or precludes your ability to influence corporate matters including the election of directors and the approval of any change of control transaction, and may adversely affect the trading price of our Class A common stock.
Our Class B common stock has ten votes per share, and our Class A common stock has one vote per share. As of March 31, 2021, and after giving effect to the voting agreements between KR Sridhar, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and certain holders of Class B common stock, our directors, executive officers, significant stockholders of our common stock, and their respective affiliates collectively held a majority of the voting power of our capital stock. Because of the ten-to-one voting ratio between our Class B and Class A common stock, the holders of our Class B common stock collectively will continue to control a majority of the combined voting power of our common stock and therefore are able to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval until the earliest to occur of (i) immediately prior to the close of business on July 27, 2023, (ii) immediately prior to the close of business on the date on which the outstanding shares of Class B common stock represent less than five percent (5%) of the aggregate number of shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock then outstanding, (iii) the date and time or the occurrence of an event specified in a written conversion election delivered by KR Sridhar to our Secretary or Chairman of the Board to so convert all shares of Class B common stock, or (iv) immediately following the date of the death of KR Sridhar. This concentrated control limits or precludes Class A stockholders’ ability to influence corporate matters while the dual class structure remains in effect, including the election of directors, amendments of our organizational documents, and any merger, consolidation, sale of all or substantially all of our assets, or other major corporate transaction requiring stockholder approval. In addition, this may prevent or discourage unsolicited acquisition proposals or offers for our capital stock that Class A stockholders may feel are in their best interest as one of our stockholders.
Future transfers by holders of Class B common stock will generally result in those shares converting to Class A common stock, subject to limited exceptions such as certain transfers effected for estate planning purposes. The conversion of Class B common stock to Class A common stock will have the effect, over time, of increasing the relative voting power of those remaining holders of Class B common stock who retain their shares in the long-term.
We may issue additional shares of our Class A common stock in connection with any future conversion of the Green Notes and thereby dilute our existing stockholders and potentially adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
In the event that some or all of the Green Notes are converted and we elect to deliver shares of common stock, the ownership interests of existing stockholders will be diluted, and any sales in the public market of any shares of our Class A common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our Class A common stock. If we were not able to pay cash upon conversion of the Green Notes, the issuance of shares of Class A common stock upon conversion of the Green Notes could depress the market price of our Class A common stock.
The dual class structure of our common stock may adversely affect the trading market for our Class A common stock.
S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell have implemented changes to their eligibility criteria for inclusion of shares of public companies on certain indices, including the S&P 500, namely, to exclude companies with multiple classes of shares of common stock from being added to such indices. In addition, several shareholder advisory firms have announced their opposition to the use of multiple class structures. As a result, the dual class structure of our common stock may prevent the inclusion of our Class A common stock in such indices and has caused shareholder advisory firms to publish negative commentary about our corporate governance practices or otherwise seek to cause us to change our capital structure. Any such exclusion from indices could result in a less active trading market for our Class A common stock. Any actions or publications by shareholder advisory firms critical of our corporate governance practices or capital structure could also adversely affect the value of our Class A common stock.
We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future.
We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock and do not intend to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings for use in the development of our business and for general corporate purposes. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their Class A common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.
Provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us more difficult, may limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management, may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or employees, and may limit the market price of our Class A common stock.
Provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. Our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws include provisions that:
•require that our board of directors is classified into three classes of directors with staggered three year terms;
•permit the board of directors to establish the number of directors and fill any vacancies and newly created directorships;
•require super-majority voting to amend some provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws;
•authorize the issuance of “blank check” preferred stock that our board of directors could use to implement a stockholder rights plan;
•only the chairman of our board of directors, our chief executive officer, or a majority of our board of directors are authorized to call a special meeting of stockholders;
•prohibit stockholder action by written consent, which thereby requires all stockholder actions be taken at a meeting of our stockholders;
•establish a dual class common stock structure in which holders of our Class B common stock may have the ability to control the outcome of matters requiring stockholder approval even if they own significantly less than a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock, including the election of directors and significant corporate transactions such as a merger or other sale of our Company or substantially all of our assets;
•expressly authorize the board of directors to make, alter, or repeal our bylaws; and
•establish advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at annual stockholder meetings.
In addition, our restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws provide that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for: any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, our restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws provide that unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or any of our directors, officers, or other employees, which thereby may discourage lawsuits with respect to such claims. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm our business, our operating results, and our financial condition.
Moreover, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law may discourage, delay, or prevent a change in control of our Company. Section 203 imposes certain restrictions on mergers, business combinations, and other transactions between us and holders of 15% or more of our common stock.