EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1419612
Filing Year: 2021
Filename: 1419612_10-K_2021_0001178913-21-000696.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1.BUSINESS
Introduction
We are a leading provider of an optimized inverter solution that changed the way power is harvested and managed in photovoltaic (also known as PV) systems. Our direct current or DC, optimized inverter system maximizes power generation while lowering the cost of energy produced by the PV system, for improved return on investment, or RoI. Additional benefits of the DC optimized inverter system include comprehensive and advanced safety features, improved design flexibility, and improved operating and maintenance, or O&M, with module-level and remote monitoring. The typical SolarEdge optimized inverter system consists of inverters, power optimizers, a communication device which enables access to a cloud based monitoring platform and in many cases, additional smart energy management solutions. Our solutions address a broad range of solar market segments, from residential solar installations to commercial and small utility-scale solar installations. Since we began commercial shipments in 2010, we have shipped approximately 22.4 gigawatts (“GW”) of our DC optimized inverter systems and our products have been installed in solar PV systems in 133 countries.
Since introducing the optimized inverter solution in 2010, SolarEdge has expanded its activity to other areas of smart energy technology, both through organic growth and through acquisitions. By leveraging world-class engineering capabilities and with a relentless focus on innovation, SolarEdge now offers energy solutions which include not only residential, commercial, and large scale PV systems but also product offerings in the areas of energy storage systems, or ESS, and backup, electric vehicle, or EV components and charging capabilities, home energy management, grid services and virtual power plants, lithium-ion batteries and uninterrupted power supply, known as UPS solutions.
We primarily sell our products indirectly to thousands of solar installers through large distributors and electrical equipment wholesalers and directly to large solar installers and engineering, procurement, and construction firms (“EPCs”). Our customers include leading providers of solar PV systems to residential and commercial end users, key solar distributors, and electrical equipment wholesalers as well as several PV module manufacturers that offer PV modules with our power optimizer physically embedded into their modules.
The PV industry is surveyed by IHS Markit, an analytics company, that ranked SolarEdge as the top PV inverter supplier world-wide, by revenues, the top single phase PV inverter supplier world-wide based on MegaWatt shipments, and the top inverter supplier for the residential market world-wide as of their published “IHS PV Inverter Market Tracker - Fourth Quarter 2020”. As of December 31, 2020, we have shipped in the aggregate approximately 65.3 million power optimizers and 2.7 million inverters. More than 1.9 million PV installations, many of which may include multiple inverters, are currently connected to and monitored through, our cloud-based monitoring platform.
The SolarEdge Solution. Our DC optimized inverter system maximizes power generation at the individual PV module level while lowering the cost of energy produced by the solar PV system and providing comprehensive and advanced safety features. Our solution consists of inverters, power optimizers, a communication device which enables access to our cloud-based monitoring platform and addresses a broad range of solar market segments, from residential solar installations to commercial and small utility-scale solar installations. Additional smart energy features and hardware that can be added to our solution includes a battery pack for storage of energy and a home energy automation system which enables greater savings for the system owner.
The key advantages of our solution over a traditional string inverter PV system include:
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Maximized PV module power output. Our power optimizers provide module-level MPP tracking and real-time adjustments of current and voltage to the optimal working point of each individual PV module. This enables each PV module to continuously produce its maximum power potential independent of other modules in the same string, thus minimizing module mismatch and partial shading losses. By performing these adjustments at a very high rate, our power optimizers also solve the dynamic MPP losses associated with traditional inverters.
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Optimized architecture with economies of scale. Our system shifts certain functions of the traditional inverter to our power optimizers while keeping the DC to AC function and grid interaction in our inverter. As a result, our inverter is smaller, more efficient, more reliable and less expensive than inverters used in traditional inverter systems. The cost savings that we have achieved on the inverter enable our system to be priced at a cost per watt that is comparable with traditional inverter systems of leading manufacturers. As a PV system grows in size, our inverter benefits from economies of scale, making our technology viable for large commercial and utility-scale applications.
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Enhanced system design flexibility. Unlike a traditional inverter system that requires each string to be the same length, use the same type of PV modules and be positioned at the same angle toward the sun, our system allows significant design flexibility by enabling the installer to place PV modules in uneven string lengths and on multiple roof facets. This design flexibility:
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increases the amount of the available roof that can be utilized for power production. Unlike traditional inverter systems, our system does not require each string to be the same length, use the same type of PV modules or be positioned at the same angle toward the sun. As a result, our system is significantly less prone to wasted roof space resulting from rooftop asymmetries and obstructions.
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reduces the number of field change orders. For example, some installers use remote tools to estimate the size and configuration of an installation in connection with the customer acquisition process. This is especially common for high-volume residential arrays, where an exhaustive survey of rooftop obstructions would be uneconomical. In some cases, installers discover that their preliminary design, based on remote tools, cannot be implemented due to unexpected shading or other obstructions. With traditional inverter system designs, an obstructed module may require a significant system redesign and a modification of the customer contract to take into account the changed system design. Our DC optimized inverter solution enables an installer to compensate or adjust for most obstructions without materially changing the original design or requiring a modification to the customer contract.
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Reduced balance of system costs. Our DC optimized inverter system allows significantly longer strings to be connected to the same inverter (as compared to a traditional inverter system). This minimizes the cost of cabling, fuse boxes and other ancillary electric components. These factors together result in easier installation with shorter design times and a lower initial cost per watt, while enabling larger installations per rooftop.
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Continuous monitoring and control to reduce operation and maintenance costs. Our cloud-based monitoring platform provides full data visibility at the module level, string level, inverter level and system level. The data can be accessed remotely by any web-enabled device, allowing comprehensive analysis, immediate fault detection and alerts. These monitoring features reduce O&M costs for the system owner by identifying and locating faults, enabling remote testing and reducing field visits.
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Enhanced safety. We have incorporated module-level safety mechanisms in our system to protect installers, electricians and firefighters. Each power optimizer is configured to reduce output to 1 volt unless the power optimizer receives a fail-safe signal from a functioning inverter. As a result, if the inverter is shut down (e.g., for system maintenance, due to malfunction, in the event of a fire or otherwise), the DC voltage throughout the system is reduced to a safe level. Our DC optimized inverters comply with the applicable safety requirements of the areas in which they are sold, providing incremental cost savings to installers by eliminating the need for additional hardware such as DC breakers, switches or fire-proof ducts required by traditional inverter systems. In the U.S., the SolarEdge SafeDC feature is compliant with NEC 2014 & NEC 2017 Rapid Shutdown functionality, section 690.12. SolarEdge inverters also have a built-in protection designed to mitigate the effects of some arcing faults that may pose a risk of fire, in compliance with the UL1699B arc detection standard.
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High reliability. Solar PV systems are typically expected to operate for at least 25 years under harsh outdoor conditions. High reliability is critical and is facilitated by systems and components that have low heat generation, solid and stable materials, and an absence of moving parts. We have designed our system to meet these stringent requirements. Our power optimizers dissipate much less heat than microinverters because no DC-AC inversion occurs at the module level. As a result, less heat is dissipated beneath the PV module, which improves lifetime expectancy and reliability of our power optimizers. Our power optimizers’ high switching frequency allows the use of ceramic capacitors with a low, fixed rate of aging and a proven life expectancy in excess of 25 years. Further, we use automotive-grade application specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”) that embed many of the required electronics into the ASIC. This reduces the number of components and consequently the potential points of failure.
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Energy Storage. Our DC optimized inverter system allows solar energy to be directly stored in batteries without any conversion, thereby eliminating energy losses that are associated with such conversions and improving the RoI of PV associated battery systems.
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Energy Management. Strategically located at the intersection between PV, home usage, and the grid, inverters are well positioned to act as smart energy managers. Our smart inverters incorporate the management of PV energy, battery storage, smart devices, and grid interaction. By enabling smart energy management in our inverter, system owners can not only store solar energy but also control the timing of their PV energy consumption in order to increase their energy independence, take advantage of lower time-of-use rates, reduce electric bills, and improve overall system RoI.
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Distributed Energy Generation. As the electric grid transitions from one based on centralized power stations to a network of distributed, renewable energy sources, our inverter acts as a local control system that can manage the energy resources underlying such distributed network. Our inverters are a key part of developing a distributed and interactive grid that can help support grid stability. One such example is inverter-enabled charging and discharging of batteries as part of a virtual power plant to help manage the load on the grid and grid stability.
Our PV Solar Products Offering
SolarEdge began its commercial sales with a product offering of a simplified inverter, power optimizers, and cloud-based monitoring platform. As the solar energy industry has evolved, SolarEdge has developed innovative solutions to further enhance smart energy technology including inverters that include compatibility with batteries for increased self-consumption and storage, inverters that allow EV charging, smart meters, smart energy devices (sockets, water heater controllers, wireless relay) and smart PV modules. This product expansion has enabled us to increase average revenue per installation, or ARPI.
SolarEdge Power Optimizer. Our DC power optimizer is a highly reliable and efficient DC-to-DC converter which is connected by installers to each PV module or embedded by PV module manufacturers into their modules as part of the manufacturing process. Our power optimizer increases energy output from the PV module to which it is connected by continuously tracking the MPP of each module and controlling its working point. The power optimizer’s ability to track the MPP of each PV module and its ability to increase or decrease its output voltage, enables the inverter’s input voltage to remain fixed under a large variety of string configurations. This feature enhances flexibility in PV system designs, enabling use of different string lengths in a single PV system connected to the same inverter, use of PV panels situated on multiple orientations connected to the same inverter and using varied PV module types in the same string. In addition, our power optimizers monitor the performance of each PV module and communicates this data to our inverter using our proprietary power line communication. In turn, the inverter transmits this information to our monitoring server. Each power optimizer is equipped with our proprietary safety mechanism which automatically reduces the output voltage of each power optimizer to 1V unless the power optimizer receives a fail-safe signal from a functioning inverter. As a result, if the inverter is shut down (e.g., for system maintenance, due to malfunction, in the event of a fire or otherwise), the DC voltage throughout the system is reduced to a safe level.
Our power optimizers are designed to withstand high temperatures and harsh environmental conditions and contain multiple bypass features that localize failures and enable continued system operation in the vast majority of cases of power optimizer failure. Our power optimizers are compatible with the vast majority of modules on the market today and carry a 25-year product warranty. Our power optimizers are designed to be used with our inverters to provide power optimization. Monitoring and safety features can also be achieved with third party inverters by adding supplemental communications hardware. During the year ended December 31, 2019 and the year ended December 31, 2020, revenues derived from the sale of power optimizers represented 44.5% and 42.9% of total revenues, respectively.
SolarEdge Inverter. Our DC-to-AC inverters contain sophisticated digital control technology with efficient power conversion architecture resulting in superior solar power harvesting and high reliability and are designed to work exclusively with our DC power optimizers. A proprietary power line communication receiver is integrated into each inverter, receiving data from our power optimizers, storing this data and transmitting it to our monitoring server when an internet connection exists. Since each string which is equipped with our power optimizers provides fixed input voltage to our inverter, the inverter is able to operate at its highest efficiency at all times and therefore is more cost-efficient, energy efficient and reliable. Like our power optimizers, our inverters are designed to withstand harsh environmental conditions. Since the power rating of an inverter determines how many PV modules it can serve, larger installations require inverters with higher power ratings. We currently offer a single-phase inverter designed to address the residential market (1 kilowatt (“kW”) to 11.4 kW) which is based on our HD-Wave technology and a three-phase inverter designed to address the residential market in certain European countries and Australia as well as the commercial market (4 kW to 100 kW). Our single-phase inverters support a range of smart energy capabilities. In 2020, we launched our EnergyHub inverter and home backup solution for the U.S. residential market. The EnergyHub contains built in consumption monitoring, embedded revenue-grade production metering and integrated arc fault protection and rapid shutdown and is ready for a battery. In Europe, we launched our three-phase grid-tied inverter with battery storage. We also introduced our new commercial three-phase 120kw inverter with Synergy technology with enhanced power capabilities which is designed to enable quick and easy installation and inventory management for the commercial market. The vast majority of our inverters are sold with a 12-year warranty that is extendable to 20 or 25 years for an additional cost. During the year ended December 31, 2019 and the year ended December 31, 2020 revenues derived from the sale of inverters represented 43.9% and 44.0% of total revenues, respectively.
EV Charging Inverter. SolarEdge’s EV charging inverter offers homeowners the ability to charge electric vehicles up to six times faster than a standard Level 1 charger through an innovative solar boost mode that utilizes grid and PV charging simultaneously. This inverter is the world’s first EV charger with an integrated PV inverter. Reducing the burden of installing separately a standalone EV charger and a PV inverter, the EV charging inverter eliminates the need for additional wiring, conduit and a breaker installation. By installing an inverter that has an integrated EV charge, no additional dedicated circuit breaker is needed, saving space and ruling out a potential upgrade to the main distribution panel.
StorEdge Solutions. Our StorEdge solution is an on-grid solution that is used to increase energy independence and maximize self-consumption and backup capabilities for homeowners by utilizing a battery to store and supply solar power as needed. The solution is based on a single inverter for both solar PV and storage. Our StorEdge solution is designed to provide smart energy functions such as maximizing self-consumption, Time-of-Use programming for desired hours of the day, and home energy backup solutions. To optimize self-consumption, the battery is charged and discharged to meet consumption needs and reduce the amount of power purchased from the grid. With a backup solution, unused solar PV power is stored in a battery and used during a power outage or when solar PV production is insufficient. When there is a power outage, a combination of solar PV power and battery is used to power important sources such as the refrigerator, communication devices, lighting, and AC outlets. Our proprietary monitoring platform provides visibility into battery status, solar PV production, and self-consumption, while offering easy maintenance with remote access to inverter and battery software. Existing SolarEdge systems can be upgraded to our StorEdge solution. Our StorEdge inverter with HD-Wave technology and backup interface is designed to support connection to backup generators or up to three StorEdge inverters with each inverter DC coupled to two batteries. In the first quarter of 2020, we launched a new backup StorEdge interface that raises available backup power and eliminates pre-defining loads for simplified energy management.
SolarEdge Software. We offer a variety of professional software tools from system design to monitoring:
Our “Designer platform” is a free web-based tool that helps solar professionals to plan, build and validate our residential and commercial systems from inception to installation.
Our “Mapper app” provides SolarEdge installers with an efficient, streamlined process for registering the physical layout of new PV sites in the SolarEdge monitoring platform. Installers use the Mapper app to scan SolarEdge power optimizer and inverter barcodes, creating a virtual map of the PV site in the monitoring platform to help facilitate remote diagnostics.
Making installations quick and simple, our “SetApp” is used to activate and configure SolarEdge inverters during commissioning directly through a smartphone.
In 2020 we launched the mySolarEdge application that enables system owners to easily track their real-time system production and household energy consumption, as well as view their inverter status for quick troubleshooting from their mobile phones.
Our cloud-based monitoring platform collects power, voltage, current and system data sent from our inverters and power optimizers and allows users to view the data at the module level, string level, inverter level and system level from most browsers or from most smart phones and tablets. The monitoring software continuously analyzes data and flags potential problems. The monitoring software includes features which are used on a routine basis by integrators, installers, maintenance staff, and system owners to improve a solar PV system’s performance by maximizing solar power harvesting and reducing O&M costs by increasing system up-time and detecting PV module performance issues more effectively. Connection to the monitoring server is completed during installation by the installer. The installer then receives full access to system data through the monitoring software and can select the amount of data to be shared with the system owner.
Smart Energy Management. There are currently two separate energy technology industries that exist today, solar energy production and automation technology. Inverters are taking on an expanded role in energy management and automation, and in order to address these market needs, we are developing and providing automation products. This line of products, when used with the SolarEdge solution, is designed to allow system owners to increase self-consumption by shifting energy usage to match peak solar PV production as well as offer a convenient, wireless control option over various building and/or home devices. An example of this solution, would be using excess solar PV energy to heat water or the ability to remotely turn on or off certain power sources such as lighting or electrical appliances. The introduction of these products is dependent upon certification and region specific needs and as such, these products are not yet available in all of the geographies in which SolarEdge operates.
Grid Services. As PV and storage continue to proliferate around the world, energy production is transitioning from a centralized system to a distributed network model, where energy is produced close to the location in which it is consumed and stored. This model creates an opportunity for new interconnected and decentralized energy networks offering improved grid reliability and stability, new energy services and reduction of grid infrastructure costs. SolarEdge grid services deliver near real-time aggregative control and data reporting, enabling the pooling of distributed energy resources such as photovoltaic systems, battery storage, electric vehicle chargers, and loads, in the cloud for the creation of virtual power plants. The SolarEdge grid services and VPP solution provides sophisticated management platforms to enable real-time, aggregated control of available energy resources to meet ever-changing supply needs and demand. Our distributed energy resources management system or DERMS application and APIs are used by utilities for countering peak demand events. In 2020, SolarEdge generated revenues from selling grid services in the U.S., Europe and Australia, including services provided to independent system operators, energy retailers, national installers and others.
Product Roadmap
Our products reflect the innovation focus and capabilities of our technology departments as well as the importance we place on creating value for our customers. Our core solar product roadmap is divided into five categories: power optimizers, inverters, software, energy storage, and smart energy management.
Power Optimizers. We currently sell our third generation power optimizer which was designed for fully automated assembly and which is based on our third generation ASIC. A key element of our reliability strategy, and a significant differentiator relative to our competitors, is our use of proprietary ASICs to control, among other things, our power optimizer’s power conversion, safety features, and PV module monitoring. Instead of using large numbers of discrete components, our power optimizer uses a single proprietary ASIC, thus reducing the total number of components in an electrical circuit and thereby improving reliability. In 2021, we expect to launch our fourth generation power optimizer which uses fourth generation ASIC that will provide higher efficiency and incorporates a new safety mechanism for PV systems including connector level fault detection. In addition, we are also continuing to develop the necessary subsystems for the fifth generation ASIC which will be used in our fifth generation power optimizer. Each new ASIC generation reduces the number of components required and meaningfully improved the efficiency of the power optimizer. The efficiency improvement reduces the energy losses which in turn reduces the amount of heat dissipation. This enables design of a more cost-effective and usually smaller enclosure and also keeps the electronics cooler, thereby improving the power optimizer’s reliability.
Inverters. Our inverter roadmap includes both new products as well as additional capabilities for existing inverters. Our inverter roadmap is intended to serve three purposes: (i) expand addressable markets by developing new and larger inverters designed specifically for larger commercial installations and utility-scale projects; (ii) improve the electronics to increase the total power throughput while minimally changing the existing enclosure, thereby reducing the actual cost per watt and increasing economies of scale and (iii) improve ease of installation by integrating additional functionality required in certain installations in order to reduce costs of additional hardware and subcontractors’ labor costs.
Software. We continue to expand our software offering with introduction of new tools and new features to our current tools. This includes both professional web-based software and system owner applications such as the fleet management, the site designer tool, mySolarEdge consumer app and installer applications.
Our cloud-based monitoring platform is continuously growing by the amount of data aggregated. We are continuously developing tools to accommodate our growth and further enhance our service offering. Specifically, we plan to improve our reporting systems and enable users to obtain self-generated customized reports. We also expect to expand algorithms that detect and pinpoint problems that can affect power production in field systems. We further plan to add more capabilities through our public application program interface to allow users to build and integrate our system into their own systems and to allow users to build and share useful applications based on monitoring data gathered by our software.
Energy Storage. We are working to continue to expand our on-grid and backup offering for the residential market including by introducing our own home battery which is expected to launch during the second quarter of 2021, while also developing our own battery for the commercial market segment.
Smart Energy Management
Our smart energy management offering manages and controls PV production, home consumption, storage, home generator and grid interaction, and is designed to automatically use excess PV power to increase self-consumption of solar energy and reduce energy bills and carbon footprints. The offering controls electrical loads such as, pool pumps, fans, lighting and other home appliances by using several accessories such as a smart socket, smart switch relays and more, and is able to divert excess solar energy to heat water. We are developing new features and capabilities for the smart energy suite which is constantly evolving. Specifically, we have current plans to add the ability to control additional energy loads and are developing capabilities for the commercial segment. We also plan on expanding the availability of our smart energy products, including smart energy management devices, to new geographies and use cases.
Products from Non-Solar Businesses
During the year ended December 31, 2018, we expanded our product offering by completing the acquisition of the assets of a business for the development, manufacturing and sale of uninterrupted power supply or UPSs (“Critical Power”) as well as the acquisition of Kokam Co., Ltd. (“Kokam”), a provider of Lithium-ion cells, batteries and energy storage solutions. In January 2019, we further expanded our product offering by completing the acquisition of approximately 99.9% of SolarEdge Automation Machines SPA (“SolarEdge Automation Machines”) and its wholly owned subsidiary SolarEdge eMobility SPA (“SolarEdge e-Mobility”) (formerly S.M.R.E Spa and I.E.T Spa, respectively). SolarEdge Automation Machines manufactures automated machinery for industrial applications and SolarEdge e-Mobility develops, manufactures and sells end-to-end e-Mobility solutions for electric and hybrid vehicles used in motorcycles and light commercial vehicles. These acquisitions allow us to offer a variety of products and solutions in addition to the SolarEdge solution, in adjacent markets.
UPS products. Our Critical Power product offering includes a range of UPS and power supply solutions for use in various applications including datacenters, communications, defense, healthcare, industrial, financial, transportation, government and, retail. The products include modular UPS solutions ranging from 10 kW to 1.2 MW, modular power systems for the telecommunications market, and different control and management solutions. In the year ended December 31, 2020, we launched our advanced three-phase modular product family to the U.S. market with an offering for both 208V and 480V targeting industrial, health and IT/data centers applications.
Lithium-ion batteries and related products. Founded in 1989, Kokam, develops, manufactures and sells premium lithium-ion battery cells, batteries and energy storage solutions. Kokam’s patented cell manufacturing technology allows us to provide energy solutions of improved performance, safety, and reliability which can integrate with a wide-variety of industries, including Energy Storage Systems known as ESS, UPS, EVs, and marine. This year we began development of an additional factory in Korea for the manufacturing of 2GW of cells which is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022.
Products for e-Mobility. Through the acquisition of SolarEdge e-Mobility and SolarEdge Automation Machines, SolarEdge added to its product offering components for e-Mobility, automated production machines and telematics software. These solutions include innovative powertrain technology integrated with the gearbox, engine, battery, BMS, software, electronics and batteries for light goods vehicles, light commercial vehicles and e-motorcycles. In the year ended December 31, 2020, we delivered full electrical powertrain kits which consist of batteries, inverters, motor and a vehicle control unit for pre-production validation by an automotive manufacturer and expect to ramp delivery of additional powertrain kits in 2021. We recently announced that we were selected and will begin to supply full electrical powertrain units and batteries for the production of the Fiat E-Ducato light commercial vehicle.
New Products or Product Categories
We continuously evaluate opportunities to expand our product offerings and services to our customers. We may from time to time develop new products or services that are a natural extension of our existing business, or may engage in acquisitions of businesses or product lines with the potential to strengthen our market position, enable us to enter attractive markets, expand our technological capabilities, or provide synergistic opportunities.
Sales and Marketing Strategy
Our solar business strategy is to focus on penetrating new geographic regions and increasing our market share. More specifically, we focus on markets where electricity prices, irradiance and government policies make solar PV installations economically viable. Our solar products have been installed in 133 countries.
We target our sales and marketing efforts to the largest distributors, electrical equipment wholesalers, EPC contractors and installers in each of the countries where we operate. In the U.S., Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Australia, our products are carried and actively sold by most of the top solar PV distributors as well as the largest electrical distribution companies that are active in solar PV. We anticipate that an increasing percentage of solar PV equipment sales will also occur through electrical equipment wholesalers who sell to a broad range of electrical contractors, and we are focused on cultivating these global relationships. As of December 31, 2020, according to data available on our monitoring platform, over 37,400 installers around the world have installed SolarEdge solar PV systems. We also sell our power optimizers pre-installed onto several PV modules for manufacturers that offer PV modules with our power optimizer physically embedded into their modules.
Additionally, as further detailed below, we have a number of programs focused on educating installers and other industry professionals about our technology, and we use a combination of road shows, webinars, and partner trainings to educate them how best to design, sell, and implement our technology in their projects. Most of this activity was converted to on-line platforms during 2020 to enable continued training, education and marketing during the global pandemic such as the SolarEdge first Global Virtual Solar Show and additional virtual roadshows.
Our battery business strategy focuses on utilizing Kokam’s battery technology in our residential and commercial solar products and using any remaining manufacturing capacity for generating revenues from the sale of battery cells, modules and systems to other applications including ESS, e-mobility, marine and other applications. In the future we intend to further integrate our batteries into the UPS products and our other applications.
Our Customers
We derive a significant portion of our revenues from key solar distributors, electrical equipment wholesalers and large installers in the U.S. and worldwide. In 2020, one of our customers, Consolidated Electrical Distributors Inc. (CED) represented 14.8% of our revenues. None of our other customers accounted for more than ten percent of our revenues in the year ended December 31, 2020.
Training and Customer Support
We offer our installer base a comprehensive package of customer support and training services which include pre-sales support, ongoing trainings, and technical support before, during, and after installation. We also provide customized support programs to PV module manufacturers, large installers and distributors to help prioritize and track support issues, thereby enabling short cycle times for issue resolution.
In 2020, as COVID-19 related lockdowns made in-person training events impractical in many countries, we adjusted our training methodologies to a hybrid approach combining hands-on and digital learning techniques. As a result, we were able to significantly increase our overall training reach, with approximately 900 training events (both in-person and digital) attracting approximately 58,000 participants from 90 countries.
This year we introduced the EDGE Academy, an intuitive web-based learning portal that aims to help SolarEdge installers improve their installation skills and minimize installation time. Using digital-learning, installers can complete a certification program in one of 12 available languages to become a certified SolarEdge installer. Each program is valid for two years. Since its launch in the fourth quarter of 2020, over 8,700 installers worldwide have successfully completed the training program, becoming certified SolarEdge installers.
In addition to over 200 new product training videos published on our YouTube channel in 2020 in multiple languages, we have also developed new mobile learning tools that improve the ability of our installers to quickly and efficiently install our products. Over the past year, more than 11,000 SolarEdge installers have increased their technical know-how and enhanced their installation techniques by using these tools, which were designed to assist them specifically at the time of system installation.
In addition to the above, we support our commercial system customers with design consulting throughout their sales process and installation.
Our technical support organization includes local expert teams, call centers, an online service portal and live chat service. Our toll-free call and live chat centers are open Monday through Friday at least from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in every region in which we sell our products. In addition, customers can open and track support cases 24/7 utilizing our online portal. All support cases are monitored via a customer relationship management system in order to ensure service, track closure of all customer issues and further improve our customer service. Our call centers have access to our cloud-based monitoring platform database, which enables real-time remote diagnostics.
Customer service and satisfaction continues to be a key component of our business and we consider it integral to our success in the future. We maintain high levels of customer engagement through our call centers in California, Australia, Japan, Israel, India and Bulgaria. In addition to our call centers, we have field service engineers located in the geographies where we are active, and support our customers with commissioning of large projects, introduction of new technologies and features and on-the-job training of new installers. As of December 31, 2020, our customer support and training organization consisted of 435 full time employees worldwide.
Our Technology
We have drawn on our expertise in the fields of power electronics, magnetic design, mechanical and heat dissipation capabilities, control loops and algorithms and power line communications to design and develop what we believe to be the most advanced commercial solutions for harvesting power from solar PV systems. Our advanced technologies are explained in more detail below.
As part of our growth strategy, we have acquired companies that have technologies that can leverage our expertise in power electronics and power optimization. By combining acquired resources with our current research and development teams, we are expanding our activity into other essential areas such as e-Mobility, battery storage and energy storage systems.
Power optimizers
Our power optimizers are DC/DC step up/step down (buck-boost) converters designed and developed to operate in harsh outdoor environments at very high conversion efficiency. Our power optimizers include proprietary power electronics customized to efficiently convert power from the PV module to the inverter. The components are selected and the conversion topology is designed for the power optimizer specifications, and the power optimizer design is verified for consistent performance and reliability in numerous lab tests and simulations.
A key factor in the performance of our power optimizer is determined by the digital control algorithms and closed-loop control mechanism. The power optimizer’s control is built into our advanced ASIC which is responsible for all critical digital control functions of the power optimizer, including detailed power analysis, digital control of the power conversion subsystem, power line communications and networking. Since each power optimizer handles the power and voltage of a single module, we are able to reach a high degree of semiconductor integration by leveraging low cost silicon in standard semiconductor packages. As a result, much of the functionality of our power optimizer can be integrated into a standard ASIC instead of use of discrete electronic components, resulting in lower costs and higher reliability.
The ASIC performs the critical power analysis and power conversion control functions of the power optimizer. The power analysis functions process the state and working parameters at the power optimizer’s input and output, and together with advanced digital control and state machine logic, control the power conversion function. In addition, our digital control system uses technology that allows the solar PV installation to anticipate and adapt to changing operating conditions, and to protect itself against system anomalies.
Each power optimizer in the array is connected to the inverter by a power line communications networking link. Our power line communications link uses a proprietary networking technology that we developed, utilizing the existing DC wiring between the power optimizers and the inverter to transmit and receive data between these devices.
Inverters
Most of our inverters are designed for single-stage DC/AC conversion. Using our inverter in combination with the power optimizers allows the inverter control loop to maintain a regulated DC voltage level at its input, thereby allowing for long, uneven, and multi-faceted strings while also enabling custom, cost efficient, and reliable inverter design and component selection. All of the power components, as well as the main magnetic components for our inverters, can then be optimized for DC/AC inversion at high efficiency.
Our inverters’ digital control algorithms are implemented using programmable digital signal processors which allow for flexibility and adaptation of control loops for various grids and for the requirements and standards of different grid operators across geographies. We have already implemented the control mechanisms necessary to support advanced grid codes and standards that are required to support high penetration of solar energy into utility grids. In 2020, we developed and manufactured our own DSP (ASIC) in our inverters which enables us to improve our control loops, increase our cost savings and be less dependent on third party suppliers in our manufacturing process. The DSP (ASIC) performs the critical power analysis and power conversion control functions of the inverter. The power analysis functions process the state and working parameters at the power inverter’s input and output, and together with advanced digital control and state machine logic controls the power conversion function. In addition, our digital control system uses technology that allows the inverter to anticipate and adapt to changing operating conditions, and to protect itself against system anomalies as well as comply with applicable regulations in the different regions in which we operate.
Our DSP (ASIC) is also in charge of the power line communications (PLC) networking link. Our power line communications link uses a proprietary networking technology that we developed, utilizing the existing DC wiring between the power optimizers and the inverter to transmit and receive data between these devices.
We have developed and continue to develop in house design and manufacturing capabilities for magnetic components in order to decrease dependence on suppliers, reduce costs and have better control over our production processes.
Manufacturing
We have designed our manufacturing processes to produce high quality products at competitive costs. The strategy is threefold: outsource, automate, and localize. We currently contract to have our solar products manufactured by two of the world’s leading global electronics manufacturing service providers, Jabil Circuit, Inc. (“Jabil”) and Flex Ltd. (“Flex”). By using contract manufacturers, we are able to access advanced manufacturing equipment, processes, skills and capacity on a “capital light” budget. Our contract manufacturers are responsible for funding the capital expenses incurred in connection with the manufacture of our products, except with regard to end-of-line testing equipment and other specific manufacturing equipment utilized in assembling our products or sub-components which are financed and owned by the company. We expect to continue this funding arrangement in the future, with respect to any expansions to such existing lines. Further, contracting with global providers such as Jabil, and Flex gives us added flexibility to manufacture certain products in China and Vietnam, closer to target markets in Asia and the North American west coast, as well as other products in Hungary, closer to target markets in Europe and the North American east coast, in each case, potentially increasing responsiveness to customers while reducing costs and delivery times. In the third quarter of 2020, we began commercial shipments to the U.S. of optimizers and inverters from our manufacturing facility located in the North of Israel “Sella 1”. The proximity of Sella 1 to our R&D team and labs, enables us to accelerate new product development cycles as well as define equipment and manufacturing processes of newly developed products which can then be adopted by our contract manufacturers world-wide. We expect Sella 1 manufacturing levels to continue to increase until the second quarter of 2021 when we expect Sella 1 to reach full manufacturing capabilities.
We have developed propriety automated assembly lines for the manufacturing of our power optimizers. These assembly lines, currently operating in all of our manufacturing facilities enable the manufacturing of more than 5,000 optimizers per machine per day. We invest resources in additional automated assembly lines as well as in automated machinery for subassembly and self-manufacturing of certain components used in our products, and we own and are responsible for funding all of the capital expenses related thereto. The current and expected capital expenses associated with these automated assembly lines and other machinery is funded out of our cash flows.
We source our raw materials through various component manufacturers and invest resources in continued cost-reduction efforts as well as verifying second and third sources so as to limit dependence on sole suppliers.
Our Korean subsidiary, Kokam, has a manufacturing facility for lithium-ion cells and batteries that has the capacity to manufacture up to 150 MWH per annum. In 2020, we began construction of “Sella 2”, a 2GWh Li-Ion battery factory in Korea. The new factory is being constructed to meet the growing global demand for Li-Ion batteries, specifically in the energy storage system (ESS) and e-mobility markets. Sella 2 is expected to begin operation in the first half of 2022.
SolarEdge e-Mobility has a manufacturing and assembly facility in Umbertide, Italy for our e-Mobility division.
Reliability and Quality Control
Our power optimizers are either connected to each PV module by installers, or embedded in each PV module by PV module manufacturers. Our power optimizers are designed to be as reliable as the PV module itself and capable of withstanding the same operating and environmental conditions.
Our reliability methodology includes a multi-level plan with design analysis, sub-system testing of critical components by Accelerated Life Testing, and integrative testing of design prototypes by Highly Accelerated Life Testing and large sample groups. As part of our reliability efforts, we subject components to industry standard conditions and tests including in accelerated life chambers that simulate burn-in, thermal cycling, damp-heat, and other stresses. We also conduct out of box audits (OBA) on our finished products. In addition, on-line reliability tests (ORT) are conducted on our optimizers and we test complete products in stress tests and in the field. Our rigorous testing processes have helped us to develop highly reliable products.
In order to verify the quality of each of our products when it leaves the manufacturing plant, each component, sub-assembly, and final product are tested multiple times during production. These tests include Automatic Optical Inspection, In-Circuit Testing, Board- Functional Testing, Safety Testing, and Integrative Stress Testing. We employ a serial number-driven manufacturing process auditing and traceability system that allows us to control production line activities, verify correct manufacturing processes and to achieve item-specific traceability.
As a part of our quality and reliability approach, failed products from the field are returned and subjected to root cause analysis, the results of which are used to improve our product and manufacturing processes and design and further reduce our field failure rate.
Certifications
Our products and systems comply with the applicable regulatory requirements of the jurisdictions in which they are sold as well as all other major markets around the world. These include safety regulations, electromagnetic compatibility standards and grid compliance.
Research and Development
We devote substantial resources to research and development with the objective of developing new products and systems, adding new features to existing products and systems and reducing unit costs of our products and systems. Our development strategy is to identify features, products, and systems for both software and hardware that reduce the cost and improve the effectiveness of our solutions for our customers. We measure the effectiveness of our research and development by metrics including product unit cost, efficiency, reliability, power output, and ease of use.
We have a strong research and development team with wide-ranging experience in power electronics, semiconductors, power line communications and networking, chemical, mechanical and software engineering. In addition, many members of our team have expertise in solar technologies. As of December 31, 2020, our research and development organization had a headcount of 904 employees.
Intellectual Property
The success of our business depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and protect our proprietary technologies, information, processes, and know-how. We rely primarily on patent, trademark, copyright and trade secrets laws in the U.S. and similar laws in other countries, confidentiality agreements and procedures and other contractual arrangements to protect our technology. As of December 31, 2020, SolarEdge had 363 issued patents, world-wide and 354 patent applications pending for examination. A majority of our patents relate to DC power optimization and DC to AC conversion for alternative energy power systems, power system monitoring and control, battery technology and management systems. Our issued patents are scheduled to expire between 2021 and 2039.
We continually assess opportunities to seek patent protection for those aspects of our technology, designs, and methodologies and processes that we believe provide significant competitive advantages.
We rely on trade secret protection and confidentiality agreements to safeguard our interests with respect to proprietary know-how that is not patentable and processes for which patents are difficult to enforce. We believe that many elements of our manufacturing processes involve proprietary know-how, technology, or data that are not covered by patents or patent applications, including technical processes, test equipment designs, algorithms, and procedures.
All of our research and development personnel are required to enter into confidentiality and proprietary information agreements with us. These agreements address intellectual property protection issues and require our employees to assign to us all of the inventions, designs, and technologies they develop during the course of employment with us.
Our customers and business partners are required to enter into confidentiality agreements before we disclose any sensitive aspects of our technology or business plans.
Competition
The markets for our solar products are competitive, and we compete with manufacturers of traditional inverters, as well as manufacturers of other MLPE systems. The principal areas in which we compete with other companies include:
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product and system performance and features;
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total cost of ownership;
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reliability and duration of product warranty;
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customer service and support;
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breadth of product line;
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local sales and distribution capabilities;
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compliance with applicable certifications and grid codes;
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size and financial stability of operations; and
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size of installed base.
Recent market trends show an increased focus on safety features in rooftop installations, and the emergence of standards that are evolving to address such concerns. In particular, the arc fault detection and interruption (AFCI) and rapid shutdown (RSD) standards in the US market, have led to the introduction of module-level rapid-shutdown devices from our competitors. We believe the existence of rapid shutdown capabilities built into our optimizers positions us well in this regard, and could serve as a competitive advantage. Additionally, in 2020 we have seen PV module manufacturers introduce larger PV modules with higher power levels reaching over 600W. This market trend, which comes as a result of PV cell manufacturers introducing larger cell sizes such as M10 and M12 as well as different module build configurations, leads to market interest in higher power rating optimizers, micro inverters, and other MLPE devices. The increasing demand for storage and battery solutions is an additional noteworthy market trend which is expected to increase the attachment rate of storage to PV installations in the coming years.
Our DC optimized inverter system competes principally with products from traditional inverter manufacturers, such as SMA Solar Technology AG, ABB Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. as well as from other Chinese inverter manufacturers. In the North American residential market, we compete with traditional inverter manufacturers, as well as microinverter manufacturers such as Enphase Energy, Inc. In addition, several new entrants to the MLPE market, including low-cost Asian manufacturers, have recently announced plans to ship or have already shipped similar products. We believe that our DC optimized inverter system offers significant technology and cost advantages that reflect a competitive differentiation over traditional inverter systems and microinverter technologies.
The markets for our lithium-ion products are competitive as well, and we compete with global cell and battery manufacturers in the ESS market. Our energy storage solutions compete with products from global manufactures such as LG Chem, Samsung SDI, BYD and Panasonic.
In the UPS market, our UPS products compete with products and solutions from global UPS providers such as Schneider Electric, Eaton and Vertiv.
The vehicle e-Mobility component market is dominated primarily by manufacturers such as Robert Bosch GmbH, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, Dana Incorporated and Magna International. As the global e-Mobility market expands, major automotive manufacturers, such as Toyota, Honda, Tesla, General Motors, and Ford, have increased their investments in the electric and hybrid vehicle components in order to increase their market share.
Government Incentives
U.S. federal, state, and local government bodies as well as non-U.S. government bodies, provide incentives to owners, end users, distributors, and manufacturers of solar PV systems to promote solar electricity in the form of rebates, tax credits, lower VAT rate and other financial incentives such as system performance payments, payments for renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy generation, and exclusion of solar PV systems from property tax assessments. The market for on-grid applications, where solar power is used to supplement a customer’s electricity purchased from the utility network or sold to a utility under tariff, often depends in large part on the availability and size of these government subsidies and economic incentives, which vary from time to time by geographic market and.
Import Tariffs
Escalating trade tensions between the United States and China have led to increased tariffs and trade restrictions, including tariffs applicable to some of our products. As of June 2019, the U.S. trade representative (“USTR”) imposed import tariffs of 25% on a long list of products imported from China, including inverters and power optimizers. On January 15, 2020, the United States and China entered into an initial trade deal, which preserves the 2018 tariffs and indicates additional sanctions may be imposed if China breaches the terms of the deal.
In order to mitigate the negative effect of increased tariffs, we increased our manufacturing capabilities at our Vietnam manufacturing facility beginning in the fourth quarter of 2019 and throughout 2020. We also began manufacturing in Sella 1. As of December 31, 2020, the majority of our products being imported to the U.S. are manufactured in Vietnam, Israel and Hungary and are therefore not subject to the aforementioned tariffs.
Seasonality
The solar energy market is subject to seasonal and quarterly fluctuations affected by weather. For example, during the winter months in Europe and the northeastern U.S. where the climate is particularly cold and snowy, it is typical to see a decline in PV installations and this decline can impact the timing of orders for our products.
Sustainable, Responsible and Transparent Business Practices
In 2020, we made significant progress in our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance and disclosure. We published our newly articulated social purpose: “To power the future of energy so we can all enjoy better living and a cleaner, greener future.” This is supported by our social mission: “Shaping the future of sustainable energy production, energy storage and e-mobility through innovation”, our core values of innovation, excellence and integrity and a comprehensive sustainability strategy with 2025 targets in several areas. Our second annual Sustainability Report, published in 2020, meets the requirements of leading global sustainability disclosure standards, GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) and SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) aligning our disclosure with leading corporations around the world and with the expectations of investors and other stakeholders. Our sustainability strategy, includes three pillars:
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Powering Clean Energy: Accelerating the uptake of clean energy, delivering new smart energy, innovative solutions and improving the lifecycle impacts of our products. In 2020, we estimated that the cumulative sustainability impact of SolarEdge’s systems, based on 16.2 GW of optimized inverter systems shipped worldwide, translates into the prevention of 12.6 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to powering 2.1 million homes with electricity for a full year, every year. In 2019, we supplied PV inverter systems equivalent to supplying annual electricity consumption for more than 737,000 homes, delivering an estimated avoidance of 4.4 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
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Powering People: Maintaining leading responsible employment practices, upholding human rights and investing in communities. In 2020, we increased our workforce to support SolarEdge’s business growth, and maintained responsible employment practices, including a focus on safety. We published a new position on Human Rights and contributed to our communities in line with our commitment to donate to causes that support technology education and other social causes in areas in which we have a presence.
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Powering Business: Maintaining and reinforcing ethical conduct throughout our value chain, advancing climate resilience, improving the efficiency of our resource consumption and ethical sourcing of raw materials and components. In 2020, we published our Approach to Environmental Stewardship and Climate Resilience and commenced the process of lifecycle analysis of our key products.
Our sustainability strategy aligns directly with 10 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and our products and activities are most critical to achievement of SDG #7, Affordable Clean Energy. Supporting our sustainability strategy are 10 measurable ESG targets that we commit to delivering by 2025.
Human Capital
We believe our success depends on our ability to attract and retain outstanding employees at all levels of our business. As of December 31, 2020, we had 3,174 full-time employees. Of these full-time employees, 904 were engaged in research and development, 445 in sales and marketing, 1,549 in operations, production and support, and 276 in general and administrative capacities. Of our employees, 1,675 were based in Israel, 398 were based in Korea, 224 were based in the U.S., 180 were based in China, 235 were based in Italy, and an additional 462 were based elsewhere.
Except for our SolarEdge Automation Machines employees and the employees of SolarEdge e-Mobility, none of our employees are represented by a labor union. We have not experienced any employment-related work stoppages, and we consider relations with our employees to be good.
Recruitment: As a rapidly growing business, we rely on the success of our recruitment efforts to attract and retain technically skilled people who can support our ongoing innovation and expansion. We aim to be inclusive in our hiring practices focusing on the best talent for the role, welcoming all genders, nationalities, ethnicities, abilities and other dimensions of diversity.
Employee benefits: We aim to provide our employees with competitive salary and benefits that enable them to achieve a good quality of life and plan for the future. Our benefits differ according to local norms and market preferences, but typically include all salary and social benefits required by local law (including retirement saving programs, paid vacation and sick leave) and many additional benefits that go beyond legal requirements in local markets.
Leadership, Training and Development: We aim to provide our employees with advanced professional and development skills so that they can perform effectively in their roles and build their capabilities and career prospects for the future. We maintain a leadership program for managers and team leaders and deliver advanced professional training for sales, research and development and other functional teams as part of our extensive training program each year.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: During the past three years, we have more than doubled the total number of women in our organization, adding women at all levels. We are striving to increase the presence of women in executive and management positions as part of our 2025 target to promote gender parity and equal pay.
Workplace safety: We believe that all accidents and injuries at work are preventable and we aim to ensure a zero-injury culture across our offices and operations. We comply with applicable occupational health and safety regulations and are certified to Occupational Health and Safety Quality Management Standard ISO 45001:2018. Our injury rates are low.
Corporate Information
We were incorporated in Delaware in 2006. Our principal executive offices are located at 1 HaMada Street, Herziliya Pituach 4673335, Israel and our telephone number at this address is 972 (9) 957-6620. Our website is www.solaredge.com.
We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). Our reports, proxy statements and other documents filed electronically with the SEC are available at the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov.
We use the Investor Relations portion of our website at www.solaredge.com, as a routine channel of distribution of important information such as press releases, analyst presentations, corporate governance practices and corporate responsibility information, financial information including our annual, quarterly, and current reports, our proxy statements, and, if applicable, amendments to those reports, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such reports with, or furnish them to, the SEC. We also make available on the Investor Relations portion of our website at www.solaredge.com our earnings presentation and other important information, which we encourage you to review. All such postings and filings are available on our Investor Relations website free of charge.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A.RISK FACTORS
You should carefully consider the risks described below together with the other information set forth in this report, which could materially affect our business, financial condition and future results. The risks described below are not the only risks facing our company. Risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
Risks related to Our Business and Our Industry
We cannot be certain that we will sustain our current level of profitability in the future.
We achieved a net profit of $ $145.0 million and $140.3 million in the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively. Our revenue and profitability for the year ended December 31st, 2020 did not grow as we previously anticipated mainly due to the adverse effects of COVID-19 on demands for our products, and on the global economy in general. Furthermore, in the future, our revenues from both solar and non-solar business may not grow at the pace we anticipate, or may decline for a number of reasons, many of which are outside our control, including a decline in demand for our products, increased competition, a decrease in the growth of the solar industry, the short term and long term effects of COVID-19 on our industry and business, or our failure to continue to capitalize on growth opportunities. If we fail to maintain sufficient revenue to support our operations, we may not be able to sustain profitability.
In addition, we expect to incur additional costs and expenses related to the continued development and expansion of our business, including in connection with recent or future acquisitions as well as ongoing marketing and developing our products, development of our own manufacturing facilities, expanding into new product markets and geographies, maintaining and enhancing our research and development operations and hiring additional personnel. We do not know whether our revenues will grow rapidly enough to absorb these costs or the extent of these expenses or their impact on our results of operations.
The rapidly evolving and competitive nature of the solar industry makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects. Our entry into other adjacent markets through recent acquisitions is new and highly competitive and it is difficult to evaluate our future in these new markets as well.
The rapidly evolving and competitive nature of the solar industry makes it difficult to evaluate our current business and future prospects. In addition, we have limited insight into emerging trends that may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Our non-solar businesses in adjacent markets, such as UPSs, Battery and e-Mobility are new to us and these are highly competitive markets in which we will need to compete. We have encountered and will continue to encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by growing companies in rapidly changing industries, including unpredictable and volatile revenues and increased expenses as we continue to grow our business. The viability and demand for our products, may be affected by many factors outside of our control, including:
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cost competitiveness, reliability and performance of solar PV systems compared to conventional and non-solar renewable energy sources and products;
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availability and amount of government subsidies and incentives to support the development and deployment of solar energy solutions;
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the extent to which the electric power industry and broader energy industries are deregulated to permit broader adoption of solar electricity generation;
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prices of traditional carbon-based energy sources;
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levels of investment by end-users of solar energy products, which tend to decrease when economic growth slows; and
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the emergence, continuance or success of, or increased government support for, other alternative energy generation technologies and products.
If demand for solar energy solutions does not continue to grow or grows at a slower rate than we anticipate, our business and results of operations will suffer.
Our revenues are primarily derived from products utilized in solar PV installations. Thus, our future success depends on continued demand for solar energy solutions and the ability of vendors to meet this demand. The solar industry is an evolving industry that has experienced substantial changes in recent years, and we cannot be certain that consumers, businesses, or utilities will adopt solar PV systems as an alternative energy source at levels sufficient to grow our business. If demand for solar energy solutions fails to develop sufficiently, demand for our products will decrease, which would have an adverse impact on our ability to increase our revenue and grow our business.
A drop in the retail price of electricity derived from the utility grid or from alternative energy sources may harm our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
Decreases in the retail prices of electricity from the utility grid, or other renewable energy resources, would make the purchase of solar PV systems less economically attractive and would likely lower sales of our products. The price of electricity derived from the utility grid could decrease as a result of:
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construction of a significant number of new power generation plants, including plants utilizing natural gas, nuclear, coal, renewable energy, or other generation technologies;
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relief of transmission constraints that enable local centers to generate energy less expensively;
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reductions in the price of natural gas, or alternative energy resources other than solar;
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utility rate adjustment and customer class cost reallocation;
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energy conservation technologies and public initiatives to reduce electricity consumption;
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development of smart-grid technologies that lower the peak energy requirements of a utility generation facility;
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development of new or lower-cost energy storage technologies that have the ability to reduce a customer’s average cost of electricity by shifting load to off-peak times; and
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development of new energy generation technologies that provide less expensive energy.
Moreover, technological developments in the solar components industry could allow our competitors and their customers to offer electricity at costs lower than those that can be achieved by us and our customers, which could result in reduced demand for our products. If the cost of electricity generated by solar PV installations incorporating our systems is high relative to the cost of electricity from other sources, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be harmed.
An increase in interest rates or tightening of the supply of capital in the global financial markets could make it difficult for end-users to finance the cost of a solar PV system and could reduce the demand for smart energy products and thus demand for our products.
Many end-users depend on financing to fund the initial capital expenditure required to develop, build, or purchase a solar PV system. As a result, an increase in interest rates or a reduction in the supply of project debt financing or tax equity investments, could reduce the number of solar projects that receive financing or otherwise make it difficult for our customers or the end-users, to secure the financing necessary to develop, build, purchase, or install a solar PV system on favorable terms, or at all, and thus lower demand for our products which could limit our growth or reduce our net sales. In addition, we believe that a significant percentage of end-users install solar PV systems as an investment, funding the initial capital expenditure through financing. An increase in interest rates could lower such end-user’s return on investment on a solar PV system, increase equity return requirements or make alternative investments more attractive relative to solar PV systems, and, in each case, could cause such end-users to seek alternative investments. Furthermore, the continuous effects of COVID-19 on the economy may influence the end-users willingness to invest in solar PV systems to our detriment, both due to end-users’ economic uncertainly as well as the market’s unwillingness to extend favorable financial terms to the end-users.
The market for our products is highly competitive and we expect to face increased competition as new and existing competitors introduce power optimizers, inverters, solar PV system monitoring and other smart energy products, which could negatively affect our results of operations and market share.
The market for solar PV solutions is highly competitive. We principally compete with traditional inverter manufacturers as well as microinverter manufacturers. Currently, our DC optimized inverter system competes with products from traditional inverter manufacturers, and microinverter manufacturers, as well as emerging technology companies offering alternative MLPE products. Over the past few years, several new entrants to the inverter and MLPE market including low-cost Asian manufacturers, have announced plans to ship or have already shipped products in markets in which we sell our products, including, with respect to sales in Australia and in Europe. We expect competition to intensify as new and existing competitors enter the market. In addition, there are several new entrants that are proposing solution to the rapid shutdown functionality which has become a regulatory requirement for PV rooftop solar systems in the United States. If these new technologies are successful in offering a price competitive and technological attractive solution to the residential solar PV market, this could make it more difficult for us to maintain market share.
Several of our existing and potential competitors have the financial resources to offer competitive products at aggressive or below-market pricing levels, which could cause us to lose sales or market share or require us to lower prices for our products in order to compete effectively. If we have to reduce our prices by more than we anticipated, or if we are unable to offset any future reductions in our average selling prices by increasing our sales volume, reducing our costs and expenses or introducing new products, our revenues and gross profit would suffer.
In addition, competitors may be able to develop new products more quickly than us, may partner with other competitors to provide combined technologies and competing solutions and may be able to develop products that are more reliable or that provide more functionality than ours.
Developments in alternative technologies or improvements in distributed solar energy generation may have a material adverse effect on demand for our offerings.
Significant developments in alternative technologies, such as advances in other forms of distributed solar PV power generation, storage solutions, such as batteries, the widespread use or adoption of fuel cells for residential or commercial properties or improvements in other forms of centralized power production, may have a material adverse effect on our business and prospects. Any failure by us to adopt new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to react to changes in existing technologies, could result in product obsolescence, the loss of competitiveness of our products, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors.
The solar industry has historically been cyclical and experienced periodic downturns.
Our future success partly depends on continued demand for solar PV systems in the end-markets we serve, including the residential and commercial sectors in the United States and Europe. The solar industry has historically been cyclical and has experienced periodic downturns which may affect the demand for equipment that we manufacture. The solar industry has undergone challenging business conditions in past years, including downward pricing pressure for PV modules, mainly as a result of overproduction, and reductions in applicable governmental subsidies, contributing to demand decreases. Therefore, there is no assurance that the solar industry will not suffer significant downturns in the future, which will adversely affect demand for our solar products and our results of operations.
Defects or performance problems in our products could result in loss of customers, reputational damage, and decreased revenue, and we may face warranty, indemnity, and product liability claims arising from defective products.
Although our products meet our stringent quality requirements, they may contain undetected errors or defects, especially when first introduced or when new generations are released. Errors, defects, or poor performance can arise due to design flaws, defects in raw materials or components or manufacturing difficulties, which can affect both the quality and the yield of the product. Any actual or perceived errors, defects, or poor performance in our products could result in the replacement or recall of our products, or components thereof, shipment delays, rejection of our products, damage to our reputation, lost revenue, diversion of our personnel from our product development efforts, and increases in customer service and support costs, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Furthermore, defective components may give rise to warranty, indemnity, or product liability claims against us that exceed any revenue or profit we receive from the affected products. In most cases, we offer a minimum 12-year limited warranty for our inverters, extendable to twenty five years for an additional cost, and a 25-year limited warranty for our power optimizers. Our limited warranties cover defects in materials and workmanship of our products under normal use and service conditions. As a result, we bear the risk of warranty claims long after we have sold products and recognized revenue. While we do have accrued reserves for warranty claims, our estimated warranty costs for previously sold products may change to the extent future products are not compatible with earlier generation products under warranty. Our warranty accruals are based on our assumptions and we do not have a long history of making such assumptions. As a result, these assumptions could prove to be materially different from the actual performance of our systems, causing us to incur substantial unanticipated expense to repair or replace defective products in the future or to compensate customers for defective products. Our failure to accurately predict future claims could result in unexpected volatility in, and have a material adverse effect on, our financial condition.
If one of our products were to cause injury to someone or cause property damage then we could be exposed to product liability claims. We could incur significant costs and liabilities if we are sued and if damages are awarded against us. Further, any product liability claim we face could be expensive to defend and could divert management’s attention. The successful assertion of a product liability claim against us could result in potentially significant monetary damages, penalties or fines, subject us to adverse publicity, damage our reputation and competitive position, and adversely affect sales of our products. In addition, product liability claims, injuries, defects, or other problems experienced by other companies in the residential solar industry could lead to unfavorable market conditions for the industry as a whole.
We depend upon a small number of outside contract manufacturers. Our operations could be disrupted if we encounter problems with these contract manufacturers.
While we are manufacturing a small portion of our products in Israel, we still heavily rely upon our contract manufacturers to manufacture most of our products. We mainly rely on two contract manufacturers. Any change in our relationship or contractual terms with our contract manufacturers, or changes in our contract manufacturers’ ability to comply with their contractual obligations could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Our reliance on a small number of contract manufacturers makes us vulnerable to possible capacity constraints and reduced control over component availability, delivery schedules, manufacturing yields and costs. Even though we have commenced manufacturing in our facility in Israel, the expected production volumes will not be sufficient to relieve our significant dependence on our contract manufacturers. In addition, we will remain heavily dependent on suppliers of the components needed for our manufacturing.
The revenues that our contract manufacturers generate from our orders represent a relatively small percentage of their overall revenues. As a result, fulfilling our orders may not be considered a priority in the event of constrained ability to fulfill all of their customer obligations in a timely manner, especially in light of restrictions imposed by COVID -19. In addition, the facilities in which our products are manufactured are located outside of the U.S., currently in China, Vietnam, Israel, and Hungary. The location of these facilities outside of key markets such as the U.S. increases shipping time, thereby causing a long lead time between manufacturing and delivery.
If either of our contract manufacturers were unable or unwilling to manufacture our products in required volumes and at high quality levels or renew existing terms under supply agreements, we would have to identify, qualify, and select acceptable alternative contract manufacturers, which may not be available to us when needed or may not be in a position to satisfy our quality or production requirements on commercially reasonable terms. Any significant interruption in manufacturing would require us to reduce our supply of products to our customers or increase our shipping costs to make up for delays in manufacturing, which in turn could reduce our revenues, harm our relationships with our customers, subject us to liquidated damages for late deliveries, and damage our reputation with local installers and potential end-users, all of which will cause us to forego potential revenue opportunities. Further, the ramp of a new contract manufacturer is time consuming and draining on the resources of our operations team.
We may experience delays, disruptions, or quality control problems in our manufacturing operations.
Our product development, manufacturing, and testing processes are complex and require significant technological and production process expertise, involving a number of precise steps from design to production. Any change in our processes could cause one or more production errors, requiring a temporary suspension or delay in our production line until the errors can be identified and properly rectified. This may occur particularly as we introduce new products, modify our engineering and production techniques, and/or expand our capacity. In addition, our failure to maintain appropriate quality assurance processes could result in increased product failures, loss of customers, increased warranty reserve, increased costs and delays. Any of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We depend on a limited number of suppliers for key components and raw materials in our products to adequately meet anticipated demand. Due to the limited number of such suppliers, any changes or shortages in raw materials or key components we use could result in sales delays, higher costs associated with air shipments, cancellations, and loss of market share.
We depend on limited or single source suppliers for certain key components and raw materials used to manufacture our products, making us susceptible to quality issues, shortages, and price changes. Any of these limited or single source suppliers could stop supplying, or offering at commercially reasonable prices, our components or raw materials, cease operations or be acquired by, or enter into exclusive arrangements with our competitors. Because there are a few suppliers of raw materials used to manufacture our products, it may be difficult to timely identify and/or qualify alternate suppliers on commercially reasonable terms; therefore our ability to satisfy customer demand may be adversely affected. Transitioning to a new supplier or redesigning a product to accommodate a new component manufacturer would result in additional costs and delays. These outcomes could harm our business or financial performance.
Managing our supplier and contractor relationships is particularly difficult when we are introducing new products. For example, as we begin to ramp assembly and production of powertrain kits for the automotive industry, we are heavily reliant on third party suppliers that need to be approved through rigorous testing and validation processes for use in our supply chain. Once selected, it is timely and costly to replace such vendors.
Any interruption in the supply of limited source components or raw materials for our products would adversely affect our ability to meet scheduled product deliveries to our customers, could result in lost revenue or higher expenses associated with increased air shipments required to meet customer demand in a timely manner, and would harm our business. For example, we expect raw material shortages due to increased lead time which may affect our ability to timely receive certain components within the previously expected lead times. These shortages may result in a delay in sales, higher costs associated with air shipments, cancellations, and loss of market share.
We rely on distributors and large installers to assist in selling our products, and the failure of these customers to perform as expected could reduce our future revenues.
For the year ended December 31, 2020, our largest customer was Consolidated Electrical Distributors Inc. or CED, accounted for 14.8% of our revenues. Our next five largest customers for the year ended December 31, 2020 together accounted for 30.7% of our revenues. Our customers’ decisions to purchase our products are influenced by a number of factors outside of our control. The agreements we have with some of our largest customers do not have long-term purchase commitments and are generally cancellable by either party after a relatively short notice period. The loss of, or events affecting, one or more of these customers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In addition, we do not have exclusive arrangements with our third party distributors and large installers. Many of our distributors, and large installers, also market and sell products from our competitors. These distributors and large installers may terminate their relationships with us at any time and with little or no notice. Further, these distributors and large installers may fail to devote resources necessary to sell our products at the prices, in the volumes, and within the time frames that we expect, or may focus their marketing and sales efforts on products of our competitors. Termination of agreements with current distributors or large installers, failure by these distributors or large installers to perform as expected, or failure by us to cultivate new distributor or large installer relationships, could hinder our ability to expand our operations and harm our revenue and results of operations.
Mergers in the solar industry among our current or potential customers may adversely affect our competitive position.
There has been an increase in consolidation activity among distributors, large installers, and other strategic partners in the solar industry. For example, in October 2020, Sunrun, a leading provider of residential solar, battery storage and energy services, acquired Vivint Solar. If this consolidation continues, it will further increase our reliance on a small number of customers for a significant portion of our sales and may negatively impact our competitive position in the solar market.
Our planned expansion into new geographic markets or new product lines or services could subject us to additional business, financial, and competitive risks.
We have in the past, and may in the future, evaluate opportunities to expand into new geographic markets and introduce new product offerings and services. We also may from time to time engage in acquisitions of businesses or product lines with the potential to strengthen and expand our market position, our technological capabilities, or provide synergy opportunities. For example, we intend to continue to introduce new products targeted at large commercial and utility-scale installations and to continue to expand into other international markets.
Our success operating in these new markets, or in operating any acquired business, will depend on a number of factors, including our ability to develop solutions to address the requirements of the large commercial and utility-scale solar PV markets, timely certification of new products for large commercial and utility-scale solar PV installations, acceptance of power optimizers in solar PV markets in which they have not traditionally been used, our ability to manage increased manufacturing capacity and production, and to identify and integrate any acquired businesses.
Further, we expect these new solar PV markets and the additional markets we have entered to have different characteristics from the markets in which we currently sell products, and our success will depend on our ability to adapt properly to these differences. These differences include differing regulatory requirements, including tax laws, trade laws, labor regulations, tariffs, export quotas, customs duties, or other trade restrictions, limited or unfavorable intellectual property protection, international, political or economic conditions, restrictions on the repatriation of earnings, longer sales cycles, warranty expectations, product return policies and cost, performance and compatibility requirements. In addition, expanding into new geographic markets will increase our exposure to presently existing risks, such as fluctuations in the value of foreign currencies and difficulties and increased expenses in complying with U.S. and foreign laws, regulations and trade standards, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”).
Failure to develop and introduce these new products successfully, to successfully integrate acquired businesses or to otherwise manage the risks and challenges associated with our potential expansion into new product and geographic markets, could adversely affect our revenues and our ability to sustain profitability.
If we fail to build our non-solar businesses and future growth effectively, we may be unable to execute our business plan, maintain high levels of customer service, or adequately address competitive challenges.
We have experienced significant growth in recent periods with our annual product sales growing rapidly from approximately 152,500 inverters and approximately 3.6 million power optimizers in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, to annual product sales exceeding 663,000 inverters and 15.5 million power optimizers in the year ended December 31, 2020. We intend to continue to expand our business significantly within existing and new markets. This growth has placed, and any future growth may place, a significant strain on our management, operational, and financial infrastructure. In particular, we will be required to expand, train, and manage our growing employee base and scale and otherwise improve our IT infrastructure in tandem with that headcount growth. Our management will also be required to maintain and expand our relationships with customers, suppliers, and other third parties and attract new customers and suppliers, as well as manage multiple geographic locations.
Our current and planned operations, personnel, customer support, IT, information systems, and other systems and procedures might be inadequate to support our future growth and may require us to make additional unanticipated investment in our infrastructure. Our success and ability to further scale our business will depend, in part, on our ability to manage these changes in an efficient manner. If we cannot manage our growth, we may be unable to take advantage of market opportunities, execute our business strategies, or respond to competitive pressures. This could also result in declines in quality or customer satisfaction, increased costs, difficulties in introducing new offerings, or other operational difficulties. Any failure to effectively manage growth could adversely impact our business and reputation.
Conversely, the global pandemic and resulting economic downturn in many regions requires our ability to be flexible and decrease expenses where growth has slowed down. While we had anticipated 2020 to yield a more rapid level of growth and profitability, we had to rapidly adjust to the effects of COVID-19 by reducing the ramp rate of our manufacturing, slow down hiring plans and in some cases put on hold certain plans for growth and development. Our ability to react quickly to market conditions is not always in our control and any inability to do so could also adversely impact our business.
We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to settle conversion of our Convertible Senior Notes or Notes in cash or to repurchase the Notes upon a fundamental change, and our future debt may contain limitations on our ability to pay cash upon conversion of the Notes or to repurchase the Notes.
Holders of the Notes have the right to require us to repurchase all or a portion of their Notes upon the occurrence of a fundamental change (as defined in the Indentures governing their respective Notes) at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid special interest, if any. In addition, upon conversion of the Notes, unless we elect to deliver solely shares of our common stock to settle such conversion (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we will be required to make cash payments in respect of the Notes being converted. We may not have enough available cash or be able to obtain financing at the time we are required to make repurchases of Notes surrendered or Notes being converted. In addition, our ability to repurchase the Notes or to pay cash upon conversions of the Notes may be limited by law, by regulatory authority or by agreements governing our future indebtedness. Our failure to repurchase Notes at a time when the repurchase is required by the indenture governing such notes or to pay cash upon conversion of the Notes as required by such indenture would constitute a default under such indenture. A default under the indenture governing the Notes or the fundamental change itself could also lead to a default under agreements governing our future indebtedness. If the payment of the related indebtedness were to be accelerated after any applicable notice or grace periods, we may not have sufficient funds to repay the indebtedness and repurchase the Notes or make cash payments upon conversion of the Notes.
Any unauthorized access to, disclosure, or theft of personal information we gather, store, or use could harm our reputation and subject us to claims or litigation.
Our business and operations may be impacted by data security breaches and cybersecurity attacks, including attempts to gain unauthorized access to confidential data. We receive, store, and use certain personal information of our customers, and the end-users of our customers’ solar PV systems. We also store and use personal information of our employees. We take steps to protect the security, integrity, and confidentiality of the personal information we process; however, we have been subject to cybersecurity attacks and other information technology system disruptions in the past and, there is no guarantee that inadvertent or unauthorized access, use or disclosure will not occur despite our efforts. Because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not identified until they are launched against a target, we and our suppliers or vendors may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative or mitigation measures.
Unauthorized use or disclosure of, or access to, any personal information maintained by us or on our behalf, whether through breach of our systems, breach of the systems of our suppliers or vendors by an unauthorized party, or through employee or contractor error, theft or misuse, or otherwise, could harm our business, particularly in light of the European General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act which came into effect January 1, 2020. If any such unauthorized use or disclosure of, or access to, such personal information were to occur, our operations could be seriously disrupted and we could be subject to demands, claims and litigation by private parties, and investigations, related actions, and penalties by regulatory authorities. In addition, we could incur significant costs in notifying affected persons and entities and otherwise complying with the multitude of foreign, federal, state, and local laws and regulations relating to the unauthorized access to, or use or disclosure of, personal information. Finally, any perceived or actual unauthorized access to, or use or disclosure of, such information could harm our reputation, substantially impair our ability to attract and retain customers, and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Third parties, our employees, or our vendors might gain unauthorized access to our network or seek to compromise our products and services.
From time to time, we face attempts by others to gain unauthorized access through the Internet, introduce malicious software to our information technology (IT) systems, or corrupt the processes of hardware and software products that we manufacture and services we provide. We or our products may be a target of computer hackers, organizations or malicious attackers who attempt to gain access to our network or data centers or those of our customers or end users; steal proprietary information related to our business, products, employees, and customers; or interrupt our systems or those of our customers or others. Furthermore, we are susceptible to similar attempts by our own employees or vendors who have access to our networks. From time to time, we encounter intrusions or attempts at gaining unauthorized access to our network. To date, none have resulted in any material adverse impact to our business or operations; however, there can be no guarantee that such impacts will not be material in the future. While we seek to detect and investigate all unauthorized attempts and attacks against our network and products, and to prevent their recurrence where practicable, we remain potentially vulnerable to additional known or unknown threats. In addition to intentional third-party cyber-security breaches, the integrity and confidentiality of Company and customer data may be compromised as a result of human error, product defects, or technological failures. Cyber-security breaches, whether successful or unsuccessful, and other IT system interruptions, including those resulting from human error and technological failures, could result in our incurring significant costs related to, for example, rebuilding internal systems, reduced inventory value, providing modifications to our products and services, defending against litigation, responding to regulatory inquiries or actions, paying damages, or taking other remedial steps with respect to third parties.
Our entry into business engagements with military bodies as our customers in the lithium-ion battery and energy storage business embodies a risk for potentially large-scale and uncapped liability.
As a result of the acquisition of Kokam, we sell a small portion of our products to military customers. Our sales to military customers often involve standard form contracts, which may not be subject to negotiation. In particular, certain of these contracts involve unlimited damages provisions that could result in large-scale liabilities.
Our business could be materially adversely affected as a result of the risks associated with acquisitions and investments. In particular, we may not succeed in future acquisitions or be effective in integrating such acquisitions.
As part of our growth strategy, we have made a number of acquisitions, and may continue to make acquisitions and investments in the future. We frequently evaluate the tactical or strategic opportunities available related to complementary businesses, products or technologies. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in making additional acquisitions. Even if we are successful in making additional acquisitions, integrating an acquired company’s business into ours or investing in new technologies may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and large expenditures and absorb significant management attention that would otherwise be available for the ongoing development of our business, both of which may result in the loss of key customers or personnel and expose us to unanticipated liabilities. Further, we may not be able to retain the key employees that may be necessary to operate the businesses we acquire and we may not be able to attract, in a timely manner, new skilled employees and management to replace them.
We may not be able to consummate acquisitions or investments that we have identified as crucial to the implementation of our strategy for other commercial or economic reasons. Further, we may not be able to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals, including those of competition authorities and foreign investment authorities, in countries where we seek to consummate acquisitions or make investments. For those and other reasons, we may ultimately fail to consummate an acquisition, even if we announce the intended acquisition.
Lithium-Ion used in our battery cells and packs can potentially catch fire or vent smoke and cause damage or injury
The battery cells and packs produced by our subsidiary, Kokam and the SolarEdge home battery which is expected to launch during the second quarter of 2021 make use of lithium-ion cells. We regularly test our products and take safety measures when manufacturing, selling and installing battery cells and packs. However, due to the high energy density of lithium-ion cells, mishandling, inappropriate storage, non-compliance with safety instructions or field failures can potentially cause a battery cell to rapidly release its stored energy, which may in turn cause a thermal event that can ignite nearby materials, including other lithium-ion cells. As the use of lithium-ion batteries becomes more widespread, these events may occur more often, causing damage to property, injury, lawsuits and adverse publicity, which may adversely affect our reputation, results of operations or financial condition.
Conditions in Israel affect our operations and may limit our ability to develop, produce and sell our products.
Our headquarters and research and development center are located in Israel. Accordingly, political, economic, and military conditions in Israel directly affect us. Israel has been involved in a number of armed conflicts and is the target of terrorist activity. Ongoing state of hostility, varying in degree such as rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, has occurred on an irregular basis, disrupting day-to-day civilian activity and negatively affecting business conditions. Israel also faces threats from Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, Iranian militia in Syria, and others. We cannot predict whether or when such armed conflicts or attacks may occur or the extent to which such events may impact us. Any future armed conflict, political instability or violence in the region may impede our ability to manage our business effectively, operate our manufacturing plant in northern Israel, to engage in research and development, or otherwise adversely affect our business or operations. In the event of war, we may be forced to cease operations, which may cause delays in the distribution and sale of our products. Some of our directors, executive officers, and employees in Israel are obligated to perform annual reserve duty in the Israeli military and are subject to being called for additional active duty under emergency circumstances. In the event that our principal executive office is damaged as a result of hostile action, or hostilities otherwise disrupting the ongoing operation of our offices, our ability to operate could be materially adversely affected.
Additionally, several countries principally in the Middle East, restrict doing business with Israeli companies, and additional countries and groups may impose similar restrictions if hostilities in Israel or political instability in the region continue or increase. If instability in neighboring states results in the establishment of fundamentalist Islamic regimes or governments more hostile to Israel, or if Egypt, Turkey, or Jordan abrogates its respective peace treaty with Israel, Israel could be subject to additional political, economic, and military confines, and our operations and ability to sell our products to countries in the region could be materially adversely affected.
Any hostilities involving Israel or the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its present trading partners, or significant downturn in the economic or financial condition of Israel, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
The tax benefits that are available to us under Israeli law require us to meet various conditions and may be terminated or reduced in the future, which could increase our costs and taxes.
Our Israeli subsidiary was eligible for certain tax benefits provided to “Benefited Enterprises” under the Israeli Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investments, 1959 (the “Investments Law”). Beginning in January 2019, and with respect to its taxable results from 2019 onwards, our Israeli subsidiary further elected to apply the terms of the Investments Law as per “Preferred Enterprise” (“PE”) or “Preferred Technological Enterprise” (“PTE”). In order to remain eligible for the tax benefits for “Benefited Enterprises” with respect to our Israeli subsidiary’s taxable results until 2018 and with respect to its taxable results from 2019 for PE or PTE, we must continue to meet certain conditions stipulated in the Investments Law and its regulations, as amended. If these tax benefits are reduced, cancelled, or discontinued, our Israeli taxable income would be subject to regular Israeli corporate tax rates and we may be required to refund any tax benefits that we have already received, plus interest and penalties thereon. The statutory corporate tax rate for Israeli companies is 23% as of January 1, 2018 and onward. Additionally, if we increase our activities outside of Israel through acquisitions or otherwise through our Israeli subsidiary, our existing or expanded activities might not be eligible for inclusion in existing or future Israeli tax benefit programs. The Israeli government may furthermore independently determine to reduce, phase out, or eliminate entirely the benefit programs under the Investments Law, regardless of whether we then qualify for benefits under those programs at the time, which would also adversely affect our global tax rate and our results of operations.
It may be difficult to enforce a judgment of a U.S. court against our officers and directors, to assert U.S. securities laws claims in Israel, or to serve process on our officers and directors.
The majority of our directors and executive officers, their assets, and most of our assets are located outside of the U.S. Consequently, a judgment obtained against any of these persons, including a judgment based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws, may not be collectible in the U.S. It also may be difficult to effect service of process on these persons in the U.S. or to assert U.S. securities law claims in original actions instituted in Israel. Israeli courts may refuse to hear a claim based on an alleged violation of U.S. securities laws on the grounds of forum non conveniens. In addition, even if an Israeli court hears a claim, it may determine that Israeli law and not U.S. law is applicable to the claim. If U.S. law is found to be applicable, the content of applicable U.S. law must be proven as a fact by expert witnesses, which can be a lengthy and costly process. Further, an Israeli court may not enforce a judgment awarded by a U.S. or other non-Israeli court. Certain matters of procedure will also be governed by Israeli law. There is little binding case law in Israel that addresses these matters. As a result of the difficulty associated with enforcing a judgment against any of these persons in Israel, judgment against many of our directors and executive officers may be unachievable or unenforceable.
Developments in alternative technologies or improvements in distributed solar energy generation may have a material adverse effect on demand for our offerings.
Significant developments in alternative technologies, such as advances in other forms of distributed solar PV power generation, storage solutions, such as batteries, the widespread use or adoption of fuel cells for residential or commercial properties or improvements in other forms of centralized power production, may have a material adverse effect on our business and prospects. Any failure by us to adopt new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to react to changes in existing technologies, could result in product obsolescence, the loss of competitiveness of our products, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors.
Risks Related to Legal, Compliance and Regulations
The reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies and economic incentives for on-grid solar electricity applications could reduce demand for solar PV systems and harm our business.
Federal, state, local and foreign government bodies provide incentives to promote solar electricity in the form of rebates, tax credits or exemptions and other financial incentives. The market for on-grid applications, where solar power is used to supplement a customer’s electricity purchased from the utility network or sold to a utility under tariff, often depends in large part on the availability and size of government and economic incentives. Because our customers’ sales are typically into the on-grid market, the reduction, elimination or expiration of government subsidies and incentives for on-grid solar electricity may negatively affect the desirability of solar electricity and could harm or halt the growth of the solar electricity industry and our business. For example, in 2015 the U.S. congress passed a multi-year extension to the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), such extension helped grow the U.S. solar market. As of January 1, 2021, the ITC is reduced from 30 percent to 26 percent for both residential and commercial projects and is expected to reach 10 percent for commercial projects in 2024. The reduction in the ITC could reduce the demand for solar energy solutions in the U.S. which would have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Furthermore, due to the continued economic downturn from COVID-19, many of the institutions utilizing ITC may significantly pull back or no longer have the ability to invest, meaning that financing for solar projects may become seriously diminished.
In general subsidies and incentives may expire on a particular date, end when the allocated funding is reduced or terminated due to, inter alia, legal challenges, adoption of new statutes or regulations or the passage of time. These reductions or terminations often occur without warning.
In addition, several jurisdictions have adopted renewable portfolio standards mandating that a certain portion of electricity delivered by utilities to customers come from a set of eligible renewable energy resources, such as solar, by a certain compliance date. Under some programs, a utility can receive a “credit” for renewable energy produced by a third party by either purchasing the electricity directly from the producer or paying a fee to obtain the right to renewable energy generated but used or sold by the generator. A renewable energy credit allows the utility to add this electricity to its renewable portfolio requirement without actually expending the capital for generating facilities. However, there can be no assurances that such policies will continue. Reduction or elimination of renewable portfolio standards or successful efforts to meet current standards could harm or halt the growth of the solar PV industry and our business.
Changes to net metering policies may reduce demand for electricity from solar PV systems and harm our business.
Our business benefits from favorable net metering policies in most U.S. states and some European countries. Net metering allows a solar PV system owner to pay his or her electric utility only for power usage net of production from the solar PV system. System owners receive credit for the energy that the solar installation generates to offset energy usage at times when the solar installation is not generating energy. Under a net metering program, the customer typically pays for the net energy used or receives a credit against future bills if more energy is produced than consumed.
Most U.S. states have adopted some form of net metering. Yet, net metering programs have recently come under regulatory scrutiny in some U.S. states due to allegations that net metering policies inequitably shift costs onto non-solar ratepayers by allowing solar ratepayers to sell electricity at rates that are too high for utilities to recoup their fixed costs. For example, in 2019, Louisiana Public Service Commissions adopted net metering policies aiming at lowering the solar customers’ savings. We cannot assure you that the programs will not be significantly modified going forward.
If the value of the credit that customers receive for net metering is reduced, end-users may be unable to recognize the current level of cost savings associated with net metering. The absence of favorable net metering policies or of net metering entirely, or the imposition of new charges that only or disproportionately affect end-users that use net metering would significantly limit demand for our products and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth.
Existing electric utility industry regulations, and changes to regulations, may present technical, regulatory, and economic barriers to the purchase and use of solar PV systems that may significantly reduce demand for our products or harm our ability to compete.
Federal, state, local and foreign government regulations and policies concerning the electric utility industry, and internal policies and regulations promulgated by electric utilities, heavily influence the market for electricity generation products and services. These regulations and policies could deter purchases of solar PV systems sold by our customers, significantly reducing the potential demand for our products. For example, utilities 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 increase the cost to use solar PV systems sold by our customers and make them less desirable, thereby harming our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, depending on the region, electricity generated by solar PV systems competes most effectively with expensive peak-hour electricity from the electric grid, rather than the less expensive average price of electricity. Modifications to the utilities’ peak hour pricing policies or rate design, such as to a flat rate, could require the price of solar PV systems and their component parts to be lower in order to compete with the price of electricity from the electric grid.
Changes in current laws or regulations applicable to us or the imposition of new laws and regulations in the U.S., Europe, or other jurisdictions in which we do business could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any changes to government or internal utility regulations and policies that favor electric utilities could reduce the competitiveness of solar PV systems sold by our customers and cause a significant reduction in demand for our products and services. In addition, changes in our products or changes in export and import laws and implementing regulations may create delays in the introduction of new products in international markets, prevent our customers from deploying our products internationally or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to certain countries altogether. Any such event could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
General Risks
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and global measures taken in response thereto have adversely impacted, and may continue to adversely impact, our operations and financial results.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had, and may continue to have, a material adverse impact on our supply chain, operations, and customer demand. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, governmental authorities worldwide have imposed mandatory closures, stay-at-home orders, and social distancing protocols that significantly limit the movement of people, goods, and services or otherwise restrict normal business operations or consumption patterns. Our compliance with these measures has disrupted, and depending on the duration of such measures may continue to disrupt, our business and operations, as well as that of our key customers and suppliers for an indefinite period of time. Additionally, to support the health and well-being of our employees, our work force has had to spend a significant amount of time working remotely which has impacted our day-to-day operations, our ability to meet customers and create future sales and business opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in slower growth and demand for our products and may continue to impact our revenues in the following quarters mainly contingent on the duration of the global economic downturn. In addition, since the outbreak and the restrictions on travel, our employees and management have been unable to travel to customers, manufacturing facilities and to suppliers. Our marketing activities, exhibitions and shows have also been cancelled or postponed, or have been held virtually.
The full extent the effects COVID-19 will have on our business depend on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to currently accurately predict, including: the duration and scope of the pandemic; governmental, business and individuals’ actions that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic; the effect on our customers and customer demand for our products, disruptions or restrictions on our employees’ ability to work and travel, availability and long-term effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination, especially in light of its recent mutation which has made the virus exponentially more contagious.
More generally, the COVID-19 pandemic raises the possibility of an extended global economic downturn and has caused volatility in financial markets, which may continue to adversely affect demand for our products and could adversely affect our results and financial condition in subsequent quarters. For example, some of our customers could potentially experience financial difficulties, which in turn could make it difficult for us to collect receivables as well as cause a decrease in the demand for our products which could negatively affect our revenues. Additionally, some of our suppliers may experience delivery delays or financial difficulties which could result in supply constraints and increased costs or delays to our productions.
The unprecedented and continuously evolving nature of the COVID-19, other pandemics or epidemics, could also have the effect of amplifying many of the other risks described in this Item 1A, Risk Factors.
We are dependent on ocean transportation to deliver our products in a cost efficient manner. If we are unable to use ocean transportation to deliver our products, our business and financial condition could be materially and adversely impacted.
We rely on ocean transportation for the delivery of the majority of our products to our customers. We also rely on more expensive air transportation when ocean transportation is not available or compatible with the delivery time requirements of our customers or when we are unable to meet the growing volume demands of our customers and need to accelerate delivery times. Our ability to deliver our products via ocean transportation could be adversely impacted by shortages in available cargo capacity, changes by carriers and transportation companies in policies and practices, such as scheduling, pricing, payment terms and frequency of service or increases in the cost of fuel, taxes and labor, disruptions to ports and other shipping facilities as a result of the COVID-19 or other epidemics, and other factors not within our control. If we are unable to use ocean transportation and are required to substitute more expensive air transportation, our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely impacted.
Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.
Although our financial results are reported in U.S. dollars, 52.2% of our revenues in the year ended December 31, 2020 were generated in currencies other than the U.S. Dollar. In addition, a significant portion of our operating expenses are accrued in New Israeli Shekels (primarily related to payroll), the Euro and to a lesser extent the Korean Won and other currencies. As detailed in the Foreign currency Exchange Risk under Item 7A -Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk, our profitability is affected by movements of the U.S. dollar against the Euro, and, to a lesser extent, the New Israeli Shekel, Korean Won and other currencies in which we generate revenues, incur expenses, and maintain cash balances. Foreign currency fluctuations may also affect the prices of our products which are denominated primarily in U.S. dollars. If there is a devaluation of a particular currency, the prices of our products will increase relative to the local currency and may be less competitive. Despite our efforts to minimize foreign currency risks, primarily by maintaining cash balances in New Israeli Shekels, significant long-term fluctuations in relative currency values, in particular a significant change in the relative values of the Euro and, New Israeli Shekel, Korean Won and other currencies, against the U.S. dollar could have an adverse effect on our profitability and financial condition.
From time to time, we may enter into forward contracts to hedge the exchange impacts on assets and liabilities denominated in Israeli Shekels, Euros and other currencies. As of December 31, 2020, we have used derivative financial instruments to hedge the Company’s exposure to currencies other than the U.S. dollar, mainly put and call options to sell Euro for U.S. dollars and put and call options to sell Australian dollars (“AUD”) for U.S dollars, forward contracts to sell AUD for U.S. dollars, forward contracts to sell Euro for U.S. dollars and forward contracts to sell U.S. dollars for South Korean Won (“KRW”). These derivative instruments are not designated as cash flow hedges.
Additionally, our hedging activities may also contribute to increased losses as a result of volatility in foreign currency markets. If foreign exchange currency markets continue to be volatile, such fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could materially and adversely affect our profit margins and results of operations in future periods. Also, the volatility in the foreign currency markets may make it difficult to hedge our foreign currency exposures effectively.
Risks Related To Intellectual Property
If we fail to protect, or incur significant costs in defending our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, our business and results of operations could be materially harmed.
Our success depends to a significant degree on our ability to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, and unfair competition laws, as well as confidentiality and license agreements and other contractual provisions with our customers, suppliers, employees, and others, to establish and protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. Our ability to enforce these rights is subject to litigation risks, as well as uncertainty as to the enforceability of our IP rights in various countries. When we seek to enforce our rights, we may be subject to claims that our IP rights are invalid or not enforceable. Our assertion of IP rights may result in another party seeking to assert claims against us, which could harm our business. Our inability to enforce our IP rights under any of these circumstances can harm our competitive position and business.
We have applied for patents in the U.S., Europe, and China, some of which have been issued. We cannot guarantee that any of our pending applications will be approved or that our existing and future intellectual property rights will be sufficiently broad to protect our proprietary technology, and any failure to obtain such approvals or finding that our intellectual property rights are invalid or unenforceable could force us to, among other things, rebrand or re-design our affected products. In countries where we have not applied for patent protection or where effective intellectual property protection is not available to the same extent as in the U.S., we may be at greater risk that our proprietary rights will be misappropriated, infringed, or otherwise violated.
Our intellectual property may be stolen or infringed upon. In fact, as further detailed in Item 3 - “Legal Proceedings” we are engaged in a number of legal proceedings related to intellectual property. Litigation proceedings are inherently uncertain, and adverse rulings may occur, including monetary damages, or injunction stopping us from manufacturing or selling certain products, or requiring other remedies. These lawsuits are intended to protect our significant investment in our intellectual property but they also may consume management and financial resources for long periods of time and may not result in favorable outcome for us, which may adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Third parties may assert that we are infringing upon their intellectual property rights, which could divert management’s attention, cause us to incur significant costs, and prevent us from selling or using the technology to which such rights relate.
Our competitors and other third parties hold numerous patents related to technology used in our industry. From time to time, we may also be subject to claims of intellectual property right infringement and related litigation, and, as we gain greater recognition in the market, we face a higher risk of being the subject of claims of violation of others’ intellectual property rights. For example in May 2019, we were served with three lawsuits by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., a Chinese entity (“Huawei”), against our two Chinese subsidiaries and our equipment manufacturer in China. The lawsuits, filed in the Guangzhou intellectual property court, alleged infringement of three patents and asked for an injunction of manufacture, use, sale and offer for sale, and damages. In August, 2020 a first-instance judgment was issued ordering the three defendants to collectively pay damages in the amount of approximately $1.55 million (including court fees) with respect of one of the patents and we have filed an appeal with the Supreme People’s Court. The judgement is not enforceable until a final judgement of the higher courts is available. In addition, in February 2020, a preliminary injunction was rendered by the Guangzhou intellectual property court applying to seven inverter models. In line with the court’s mandate, SolarEdge took immediate action to make software changes to meet the court order and also appealed the decision.
Although we are certain that we have meritorious defenses to the claims, responding to such claims can be time consuming, divert management’s attention and resources and may cause us to incur significant expenses in litigation or settlement. While we believe that our products and technology do not infringe in any material respect upon any valid intellectual property rights of third parties, we cannot be certain that we would be successful in defending against any such claims. If we do not successfully defend or settle an intellectual property claim, we could be liable for significant monetary damages and could be prohibited from continuing to use certain technology, business methods, content, or brands. To avoid a prohibition, we could seek a license from the applicable third party, which could require us to pay significant royalties, increasing our operating expenses. If a license is not available at all or not available on reasonable terms, we may be required to develop or license a non-violating alternative, either of which could require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license or develop a non-violating alternative, we could be forced to modify, limit or, in extreme cases, stop manufacturing and sales of our offerings in the relevant country and may be unable to effectively compete. Any of these results could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We may become subject to claims for remuneration or royalties for assigned service invention rights by our employees, which could result in litigation and adversely affect our business.
We enter into agreements with our employees pursuant to which they agree that any inventions created in the scope of their employment or engagement are assigned to us or owned exclusively by us, depending on the jurisdiction, without the employee retaining any rights. A significant portion of our intellectual property has been developed by our employees in the course of their employment for us. Under the Israeli Patent Law, 5727-1967 (the “Patent Law”), inventions conceived by an employee during the scope of his or her employment with a company are regarded as “service inventions,” which belong to the employer, absent a specific agreement between the employee and employer giving the employee service invention rights. The Patent Law also provides that if there is no such agreement between an employer and an employee, the Israeli Compensation and Royalties Committee (the “Committee”), a body constituted under the Patent Law, shall determine whether the employee is entitled to remuneration for his or her inventions. Case law clarifies that the right to receive consideration for “service inventions” can be waived by the employee and that in certain circumstances, such waiver does not necessarily have to be explicit. The Committee will examine, on a case-by-case basis, the general contractual framework between the parties, using interpretation rules of the general Israeli contract laws. Further, the Committee has not yet determined the method for calculating this Committee-enforced remuneration, , but rather uses the criteria specified in the Patent Law. Although our employees have agreed that any rights related to their inventions are owned exclusively by us, we may face claims demanding remuneration in consideration for such acknowledgement. As a consequence of such claims, we could be required to pay additional remuneration or royalties to our current and/or former employees, or be forced to litigate such claims, which could negatively affect our business.
If our goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, our financial condition and results of operations could be negatively affected.
Due to our latest acquisitions, goodwill and other intangible assets totaled approximately $208.3 million, or approximately 8.5% of our total assets, as of December 31, 2020. We test our goodwill for impairment at least annually, or more frequently if an event occurs indicating the potential for impairment, and we assess on an as-needed basis whether there have been impairments in our other intangible assets. We make assumptions and estimates in this assessment which are complex and often subjective. These assumptions and estimates can be affected by a variety of external factors such as industry and economic trends, and internal factors such as changes in our business strategy or our internal forecasts. To the extent that the factors described above change, we could be required to record additional non-cash impairment charges in the future, which could negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to the Ownership of Our Common Stock
We cannot assure you that our stock price will not decline or not be subject to significant volatility.
Shares of our common stock were sold in our initial public offering in March 2015 at a price of $18.00 per share, and during the year ended December 31, 2020, the reported high and low prices of our common stock ranged from $67.02 to $335.8 per share. As further detailed in the Performance Graph in Item 5 below, the price of our Common Stock in 2020 was highly volatile and may fluctuate in response to our results of operations in future periods or due to other factors, including factors specific to companies in our industry, many of which are beyond our control. As a result, our share price may experience significant volatility and may not necessarily reflect the value of our expected performance. Among other factors that could affect our stock price are:
•
the addition or loss of significant customers;
•
changes in laws or regulations applicable to our industry, products or services;
•
speculation about our business in the press or the investment community;
•
price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market;
•
volatility in the market price and trading volume of companies in our industry or companies that investors consider comparable;
•
share price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading levels of our shares;
•
our ability to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights;
•
sales of our common stock by us or our significant stockholders, officers and directors;
•
the expiration of contractual lock-up agreements;
•
success of competitive products or services;
•
the public’s response to press releases or other public announcements by us or others, including our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), announcements relating to litigation or significant changes to our key personnel;
•
the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting;
•
changes in our capital structure, such as future issuances of debt or equity securities;
•
our entry into new markets;
•
tax developments in the U.S., Europe, or other markets;
•
conversion of all or portion of the Notes;
•
strategic actions by us or our competitors, such as acquisitions or restructurings; and
•
changes in accounting principles.
Further, the stock markets have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of affected companies. In addition, the stock prices of many renewable energy companies have experienced wide fluctuations that have often been unrelated to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political, and market conditions such as recessions, changes in U.S. regulations and policies with respect to renewable energy , interest rate changes, or international currency fluctuations, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In the past, many companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial cost and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and by-laws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management.
Our certificate of incorporation and by-laws contain provisions that could depress the trading price of our common stock by discouraging, delaying, or preventing a change of control of our Company or changes in our management that the stockholders of our Company may believe advantageous. These provisions include:
•
authorizing “blank check” preferred stock that our board of directors could issue to increase the number of outstanding shares to discourage a takeover attempt;
•
providing for a classified board of directors with staggered, three-year terms, which could delay the ability of stockholders to change the membership of a majority of our board of directors;
•
not providing for cumulative voting in the election of directors, which limits the ability of minority stockholders to elect director candidates;
•
limiting the ability of stockholders to call a special stockholder meeting;
•
prohibiting stockholders from acting by written consent;
•
establishing advance notice requirements for nominations for election to our board of directors or for proposing matters that can be acted upon by stockholders at stockholder meetings;
•
the removal of directors only for cause and only upon the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66⅔% in voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of common stock of the Company entitled to vote thereon, voting together as a single class;
•
providing that our board of directors is expressly authorized to amend, alter, rescind or repeal our by-laws; and
•
requiring the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66⅔% of the voting power of all of the then outstanding shares of common stock, voting as a single class, to amend provisions of our certificate of incorporation relating to the management of our business, our board of directors, stockholder action by written consent, advance notification of stockholder nominations and proposals, calling special meetings of stockholders, forum selection and the liability of our directors, or to amend, alter, rescind, or repeal our by-laws.
In addition, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in a broad range of business combinations with any “interested” stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder becomes an “interested” stockholder.
Our certificate of incorporation includes a forum selection clause, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us.
Our certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for any stockholder (including any beneficial owner) to bring (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, or employees to us or to our stockholders, (iii) any action asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our certificate of incorporation or by-laws, or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine, will be a state court located within the State of Delaware (or, if no state court located within the State of Delaware has jurisdiction, the federal district court for the District of Delaware); in all cases subject to the court’s having personal jurisdiction over the indispensable parties named as defendants. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of our capital stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the foregoing provisions. This forum selection provision may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us. It is also possible that, notwithstanding the forum selection clause that is included in our certificate of incorporation, a court outside of Delaware could rule that such a provision is inapplicable or unenforceable.
We do not intend to pay any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.
We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws and organizational documents. As a result, capital appreciation in the price of our common stock, if any, may be your only source of gain on an investment in our common stock.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments
Not applicable.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2.PROPERTIES
Our corporate headquarters are located in Herzliya Pituach, Israel.
Leased Offices and R&D Laboratories
As of December 31, 2020, we lease office, testing, and product design facilities in Israel.
In addition to our leased properties in Israel, we lease offices and lab facilities in California, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, Australia, UK, Japan, Turkey, Romania, India, Bulgaria, Belgium, Taiwan, Korea and China as well as an R&D and call center in Bulgaria.
Manufacturing
We outsource most of our manufacturing to our manufacturing partners. We have our own manufacturing facility, Sella 1, in the North of Israel. We also have a factory in which we manufacture lithium-ion batteries for Kokam’s operations, our Korean subsidiary, and have begun construction of Sella 2, our second lithium-ion cell and battery factory in Korea.
Owned Properties
In addition to our leased properties, we also own manufacturing facilities in Italy, office and manufacturing facilities in South Korea, and an office space in the U.K. Additionally, in March of 2020, we purchased land in South Korea for the construction of an additional manufacturing facility for lithium-ion cells and batteries.
We believe that our existing properties are in good condition and are sufficient and suitable for the conduct of our business for the foreseeable future. To the extent our needs change as our business grows, we expect that additional space and facilities will be available on commercially reasonable terms.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3.LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
In June and July 2018, we filed three lawsuits for patent infringement against Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., a Chinese entity, Huawei Technologies Düsseldorf GmbH, a German entity, and WATTKRAFT Solar GmbH, a German distributor for Huawei. The lawsuits, filed in the Mannheim District Court in Germany, assert unauthorized use of patented technology, and are intended to protect SolarEdge’s significant investment in its innovative DC optimized inverter technology. Seeking monetary damages, an injunction, and recall of infringing Huawei inverters and optimizers from the German market, the lawsuit is intended to prevent the defendants from selling any multi-level inverters and optimizers infringing upon SolarEdge’s PV inverter and optimizer technology protected in the asserted patents in Germany. In November 2019, one of the patents underlying one of the lawsuits was revoked by the European Patent Office and as such the relevant parallel infringement proceedings have been stayed. In March of 2020, SolarEdge appealed this decision of the European Patent Office. In the other two lawsuits hearings were held and in one of the proceedings the claim was dismissed and we have appealed to a higher court. In the parallel nullity proceedings regarding this patent, a hearing has been held, but no decision has been rendered. The third lawsuit is pending a court appointed expert opinion. We intend to continue to vigorously fight to protect our patented technology.
In May 2019, we were served with three lawsuits by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., a Chinese entity (“Huawei”), against our two Chinese subsidiaries and our equipment manufacturer in China. The lawsuits, filed in the Guangzhou intellectual property court, alleged infringement of three patents and asked for an injunction of manufacture, use, sale and offer for sale, and damage awards. A first-instance judgment was issued on August 7, 2020 ordering the three defendants to collectively pay damages in the amount of approximately $1.6 million (including court fees) with respect of one of the patents. We appealed this judgement with the Supreme People’s Court. The first instance court’s judgement is not effective or enforceable pending the appeal. In addition, in January 2021, Huawei filed a motion to increase its claimed monetary damages to approximately $7.6 million and for a preliminary injunction with respect to the second lawsuit. In February 2021, a preliminary injunction was rendered by the Guangzhou intellectual property court with respect to a second lawsuit and applying to seven inverter models. In line with the court’s mandate, we took immediate action to make software changes to meet the court order and also appealed the decision. We believe that we have meritorious defenses to the claims asserted by Huawei.
In September, 2018, our German subsidiary, SolarEdge Technologies GmbH received a complaint filed by a competitor, SMA Solar Technology AG (“SMA”). The complaint, filed in the District Court Düsseldorf, Germany, alleges that SolarEdge's 12.5kW - 27.6kW inverters infringe two of plaintiff’s patents. In its complaints, SMA requests inter alia an injunction, rendering account about past sales, a recall of products and a determination for a claim for damages for sales in Germany. SMA asserted a value in dispute of 5.5 million Euros (approximately $6.7 million) for both patents. We challenged the validity of both patents. In December 2019 the District Court of Düsseldorf found one of the two patents to be infringed and we appealed this decision to the Appeals Court Düsseldorf. In the parallel nullity proceedings regarding this patent, in October 2020, the German Patent Court rendered the SMA patent invalid; this invalidity has been appealed by SMA. Due to the invalidity proceedings, the infringement proceedings regarding this patent have been stayed. With respect to the other patent, in November 2019 the first instance court stayed the infringement proceedings since it considered it to be highly likely that the patent would also be invalid; We believe that we have meritorious defenses to the claims asserted and intend to vigorously defend against this lawsuit.
In addition, in the normal course of business, we may from time to time be named as a party to various legal claims, actions and complaints (including as a result of initiating such legal claims, action or complaints on behalf of the Company). It is impossible to predict with certainty whether any resulting liability would have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
ITEM 4.MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
ITEM 5.MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Market Information
Our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, where prices are quoted under the symbol “SEDG”.
Holders of Record
As of December 31, 2020, there were 18 holders of record of our common stock. Because many of our shares of common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders.
Dividends
We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws and organizational documents.
Performance Graph
The following graph compares the cumulative total shareholder return on our common stock from March 26, 2015 (using the price of which our shares of common stock were initially sold to the public) to December 31, 2020 to that of the total return of the Nasdaq Composite Index (INDEXNASDAQ.IXIC) and the MAC Global Solar Energy Index (SUNIDX). The comparison illustrates the relative change in stock price since our initial public offering on March 26, 2015. This graph is furnished and not “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission or “soliciting material” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and shall not be incorporated by reference into any such filings, irrespective of any general incorporation contained in such filing.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6.SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Change in Fiscal Year
In 2016, our Board of Directors approved a change to our fiscal year end from June 30 to December 31. We made this change to align our fiscal year end with other companies within our industry. We refer to the period beginning July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2016 as “fiscal 2016”. We previously filed a Form 10-KT to cover the transition period for the six-month period of July 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. Following fiscal 2016, all of our fiscal reporting periods begin January 1 and end December 31.
Selected Financial Data
The selected consolidated statement of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2019 and 2020 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018, December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2020, are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The selected consolidated statements of operations data for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2017 and June 30, 2016 and the six months ended December 31, 2016 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 are derived from our audited financial statements not included in this Annual Report. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of our results to be expected in any future period. These selected financial data should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes, as well as the section captioned “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Twelve Months
Ended
June 30,
Six Months
Ended
December 31,
Year Ended
December 31,
(In thousands)
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:
Revenues
$
489,843
$
239,997
$
607,045
$
937,237
$
1,425,660
$
1,459,271
Cost of revenues
337,887
159,097
392,279
618,001
946,322
997,912
Gross profit
151,956
80,900
214,766
319,236
479,338
461,359
Operating expenses:
Research and development, net
33,231
20,279
54,966
82,245
121,351
163,123
Sales and marketing
34,833
20,444
50,032
68,307
87,984
95,985
General and administrative
12,133
6,790
18,682
29,264
49,361
63,119
Other operating expenses (income)
-
-
-
-
30,696
(3,429
)
Total operating expenses
80,197
47,513
123,680
179,816
289,392
318,798
Operating income
71,759
33,387
91,086
139,420
189,946
142,561
Financial expenses (income), net
2,789
(9,158
)
2,297
11,343
(21,105
)
Income before taxes on income
72,230
30,598
100,244
137,123
178,603
163,666
Taxes on income (tax benefit)
(4,379
)
5,217
16,072
9,077
33,646
23,344
Net Income
$
76,609
$
25,381
$
84,172
$
128,046
$
144,957
$
140,322
Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests
-
-
-
1,592
-
Net income attributable to SolarEdge Technologies Inc.
$
76,609
$
25,381
$
84,172
$
128,833
$
146,549
$
140,322
Net basic earnings per share of common stock attributable to SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.
$
1.92
$
0.62
$
1.99
$
2.85
$
3.06
$
2.79
Net diluted earnings per share of common stock attributable to SolarEdge Technologies, Inc.
$
1.73
$
0.58
$
1.85
$
2.69
$
2.90
$
2.66
Weighted average number of shares used in computing net basic earnings per share of common stock
39,987,935
41,026,926
42,209,238
45,235,310
47,918,938
50,217,330
Weighted average number of shares used in computing net diluted earnings per share of common stock
44,376,075
43,839,342
45,425,307
47,980,002
50,195,661
52,795,243
As of December 31,
(In thousands)
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
Cash and cash equivalents
$
223,901
$
827,146
Available-for-sale marketable securities
211,021
291,121
Total assets
1,494,624
2,437,109
Total debt
15,846
591,627
Total stockholders’ equity
$
811,670
$
1,085,757
Key Operating Metrics
We regularly review a number of metrics, including the key operating metrics set forth in the table below, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate projections, and make strategic decisions.
Years Ended December 31,
Inverters shipped
665,520
661,904
Power optimizers shipped
15,801,378
15,462,162
Megawatts shipped (1)
5,618
6,106
(1)
Calculated based on the aggregate nameplate capacity of inverters shipped during the applicable period. Nameplate capacity is the maximum rated power output capacity of an inverter as specified by the manufacturer. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Performance Measures”.

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7.MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the sections of this Annual Report on Form 10-K captioned “Selected Financial Data” and “Business” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes to those statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Our actual results and timing of selected events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those discussed under the sections of this Annual Report captioned “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors”. For discussion related to changes in financial condition and the results of operations for the year December 31, 2018, refer to Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2020.
Overview
We develop, manufacture and sell products that address a broad range of energy market segments through our diversified product offering, including residential, commercial and large scale photovoltaic or PV, energy storage and backup solutions, electric vehicle or EV charging, home energy management, grid services and virtual power plants, as well as products in our non-solar businesses which address e-Mobility, automation machines, lithium-ion cells and battery packs, and UPS solutions.
Further information regarding our business is provided in “Part I, Item 1. Business” of this Annual Report.
In the year ended December 31, 2020, one customer accounted for 14.8% of our revenues and our top three customers (all distributors) together represented 29.5% of our revenues.
Our revenues were $1,425.7 million, and $1,459.3 million for fiscal 2019, and fiscal 2020 respectively. Gross margins were 33.6% and 31.6% for fiscal 2019, and fiscal 2020, respectively. Net profits were $146.5 million and $140.3 million for fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2020, respectively.
Performance Measures
In managing our business and assessing financial performance, we supplement the information provided by the financial statements with other operating metrics. These operating metrics are utilized by our management to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, and formulate projections. We use metrics relating to yearly shipments (inverters shipped, power optimizers shipped, and megawatts shipped) to evaluate our sales performance and to track market acceptance of our products from year to year. We use metrics relating to monitoring (systems monitored and megawatts monitored) to evaluate market acceptance of our products and usage of our solution.
We provide the “megawatts shipped” metric, which is calculated based on nameplate capacity shipped, to show adoption of our system on a nameplate capacity basis. Nameplate capacity shipped is the maximum rated power output capacity of an inverter and corresponds to our financial results in that higher total capacities shipped are generally associated with higher total revenues. However, revenues increase with each additional unit sold, not necessarily each additional MW of capacity sold. Accordingly, we also provide the “inverters shipped” and “power optimizers shipped” operating metrics.
COVID-19 Impact & Response
We continue to monitor the evolving impact of COVID-19 on our operations and business. Our first priority continues to be to protect and support our employees while maintaining company operations and support of our customers with as few disruptions as possible. We follow the guidance issued by applicable local authorities and health officials in each region in which we do business, including in our headquarters located in Israel, and have been able to continue our operations remotely or from our offices. We have maintained a flexible attendance policy that has allowed our employees to work remotely where possible in order to reduce the number of people who are in our offices while our labs and manufacturing facilities remain fully operational. Our manufacturing facilities in Korea, Italy and Israel, as well as our contract manufacturers facilities in China, Vietnam and Hungary have remained operational and at almost full capacity, with brief interruptions on a case by case basis in compliance with local laws. Our customer support centers are working at full capacity, primarily from home. Our operations and operating expenses have not been significantly impacted by these adjustments. Continued travel restrictions however have had an impact on our operations, including, by way of example delays in third party testing and certification of new products.
The actions taken around the world to slow the spread of COVID-19 have impacted the installation rate of PV systems which we are closely tracking through our monitoring portal globally and per country. We saw and reported a decline in installations in certain regions such as the United States and Italy beginning with the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 that negatively impacted our revenues in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020 when compared to the first quarter of 2020. In certain cases we accommodated customers in certain regions who requested to cancel or delay the supply of their orders.
We have taken actions in order to mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 on our business operating results and financial condition. In the second quarter of 2020, we adjusted our original pre-COVID-19 business plans to implement substantial reductions of new hiring, elimination of redundant positions, reduction, where possible, of our spending, management of operations including a review of all of our variable, research and development projects, as well as a voluntary reduction of the base salaries/compensation of our executives and board members. The impact of these reductions is reflected in our 2020 year-end financial results. Overall, despite our ability to mitigate some of the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by reducing manufacturing levels and lowering expenses, our revenues, net profitability and the overall market grew less than we had anticipated.
As anticipated, our fourth quarter revenues of $358.1 million, an increase from revenues of $338.1 million in the third quarter of 2020, reflect continuous improvement in installation rates in the U.S and rest of world, which were slightly decreased in Europe due to typical seasonality experienced in Europe during the winter. During the fourth quarter of 2020, many of our customers depleted existing accumulated inventory from previous quarters and we saw an increase in demand, resulting in higher quarterly revenues mainly from our U.S. based customers.
Key Components of Our Results of Operations
The following discussion describes certain line items in our Consolidated Statements of Operations.
Revenues
We generate revenues from the sale of DC optimized inverter systems for solar PV installations which include power optimizers, inverters, EV chargers, smart energy devices, our cloud-based monitoring platform as well as grid services. Our customer base mainly includes distributors, large solar installers, wholesalers, EPCs, and PV module manufacturers. In addition, we also generate revenues from the sale of lithium-ion cells, batteries and energy storage solutions, UPS systems, automation machines and EV powertrain solutions for electric vehicles.
Our revenues from the sale of solar-related products are affected by changes in the volume and average selling prices of our DC optimized inverter systems. The volume and average selling price of our systems is driven by the supply and demand for our products, changes in the product mix between our residential and commercial products, the customer mix between large and small customers, the geographical mix of our sales, sales incentives, end-user government incentives, seasonality, and competitive product offerings. Revenues from the sale of energy storage system or ESS products are affected by the type of product sold (cell, battery or system) and the type of the battery that is sold. Revenues from the sale of UPS products, SolarEdge Automation Machines and SolarEdge e-Mobility products are affected by the changes in the volumes, customers’ size and average selling prices of the products we sell.
Our revenue growth is dependent on our ability to expand our market share in each of the geographies in which we compete, expand our global footprint to new evolving markets, grow our production capabilities to meet demand, continue to develop and introduce new and innovative products that address the changing technology and performance requirements of our customers and expansion of the new businesses we acquired.
In the year ended December 31, 2020, 42.9% of our revenues were generated from Europe, 42.0% of our revenues were generated from the United States and 15.1% of our revenues are generated from ROW. In the year ended December 31, 2019, 38.2% of our revenues were generated from Europe, 47.6% of our revenues are generated from the United States and 14.2% of our revenues were generated from ROW.
Cost of Revenues and Gross Profit
Cost of revenues consists primarily of product costs, including purchases from our contract manufacturers and other suppliers, as well as costs related to shipping, customer support, product warranty, personnel, depreciation of test and manufacturing equipment, hosting services for our cloud-based monitoring platform, and other logistics services. Our product costs are affected by technological innovations, such as advances in semiconductor integration and new product introductions, economies of scale resulting in lower component costs, and improvements in production processes and automation. Some of these costs, primarily personnel and depreciation of test and manufacturing equipment, are not directly affected by sales volume.
With respect to ESS, Automation Machines and e-Mobility products cost of revenues consists primarily of materials costs, labor costs associated with the manufacturing, variable utility, and operational costs related to the manufacturing factories, depreciation of testing and manufacturing equipment and other fixed costs.
Except for the manufacturing and assembly activities related to our acquired businesses and the manufacturing of solar products at Sella 1, we outsource our manufacturing to third-party manufacturers and negotiate product pricing on a quarterly basis.
In fiscal 2020, the expansion of our manufacturing capabilities and increased inventory levels due to a decrease in demand as a result of COVID-19, enabled us to use ocean freight rather than previously used air freight to deliver the majority of our products. In addition, a higher portion of our products manufactured in non-tariff countries imported into the U.S. resulted in lower custom tariff charges. We anticipate maintaining inventory levels in 2021 to support our growth, continuing to deliver our products through ocean freight and reducing U.S customs tariffs exposure on imported products.
We continue to develop our own manufacturing capabilities. For example, we have developed our own proprietary automated assembly lines for our power optimizers, manufacture sub-assemblies such as cables and magnetics, and own large amounts of equipment in connection with such manufacturing activities. We expect to continue to invest in additional automated assembly lines in the future. We have designed and are responsible for funding all of the capital expenses associated with existing and planned automated assembly lines. The current and expected capital expenses associated with these automated assembly lines will be funded out of our cash flows generation.
Key components of our logistics supply channel consist of third party distribution centers in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and Japan. Finished goods are either shipped to our customers directly from our contract manufacturers or shipped to third-party distribution centers and then, finally, shipped to our customers.
In the third quarter of 2020 we began commercial shipments to the United States of optimizers and inverters from Sella 1, which is expected to reach full manufacturing capabilities in the second quarter of 2021.
Cost of revenues also includes our operations, production and support departments’ costs. The operations and production departments are responsible for production management such as planning, procurement, supply chain, production methodologies, and machinery planning, logistics management and manufacturing support to our contract manufacturers, as well as the quality assurance of our products. Our support department provides customer and technical support at various levels through our call centers around the world as well as second and third-level support services which are provided by support personnel located in our headquarters. Our full-time employee headcount in our operations, production and support departments has grown from 1,031 as of December 31, 2019 to 1,549 as of December 31, 2020.
Gross profit may vary from quarter to quarter and is primarily affected by our average selling prices, product costs, product mix, customer mix, geographical mix, shipping method, warranty costs, and seasonality.
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses consist of research and development, sales and marketing, general and administrative and other expenses. Personnel-related costs are the most significant component of each of these expense categories and include salaries, benefits, payroll taxes, commissions and stock-based compensation. Our full-time employee headcount in our research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative departments has grown from 1,400 as of December 31, 2019 to 1,625 as of December 31, 2020. We expect to continue to hire significant numbers of new employees to support our growth. The timing of these additional hires could materially affect our operating expenses in any particular period, both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of revenue. We expect to continue to invest substantial resources to support our growth and anticipate that each of the following categories of operating expenses will increase in absolute dollar amounts for the foreseeable future.
Research and development expenses
Research and development expenses include personnel-related expenses such as salaries, benefits, stock-based compensation, and payroll taxes. Our research and development employees are engaged in the design and development of power electronics, semiconductors, software, power line communications, networking and chemistry. Our research and development expenses also include third-party design and consulting costs, materials for testing and evaluation, ASIC development and licensing costs, depreciation expense, and other indirect costs. We devote substantial resources to ongoing research and development programs that focus on enhancements to, and cost efficiencies in, our existing products and timely development of new products that utilize technological innovation, thereby maintaining our competitive position.
Sales and marketing expenses
Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of personnel-related expenses such as salaries, sales commissions, benefits, payroll taxes, and stock-based compensation. These expenses also include travel, fees of independent consultants, trade shows, marketing, costs associated with the operation of our sales offices, and other indirect costs. The expected increase in sales and marketing expenses is due to an expected increase in the number of sales and marketing personnel and the expansion of our global sales and marketing footprint, enabling us to increase our penetration into new markets. These expenses will be determined to the extent that marketing activities resume, contingent upon the recovery of certain activities which have been halted due to COVID-19 such as travel, trade shows and in person customer trainings. We currently have a sales presence in many countries worldwide and intend to continue to expand our sales presence to additional regions.
General and administrative expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries, employee benefits, and stock-based compensation related to our executives, finance, human resources, information technology, and legal organizations, travel expenses, facilities costs, fees for professional services, and registration fees related to being a publicly-traded company. Professional services consist of audit and legal costs, remuneration to board members, insurance, information technology, and other costs. General and administrative expenses also include allowance for doubtful accounts in the event of uncollectable account receivables balances.
Other expenses
Other expenses consist primarily of losses related to the sale of a SolarEdge Automation Machines (formerly named SMRE) subsidiary originally acquired as part of that acquisition, stock-based compensation related to the untimely death of Mr. Guy Sella, our Founder, who had served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors until shortly before his passing on August 25, 2019, modification of PSU terms originally granted as part of the acquisition of SolarEdge Automation Machines, a claim acquired as part of the Kokam acquisition which was later settled in arbitration in 2020 and costs related to the write-off of identifiable intangible assets in SolarEdge e-Mobility which we ceased to use
Non-Operating Expenses
Financial expenses (income)
Financial expenses (income) consists primarily of interest income, interest expense, gains or losses from foreign currency fluctuations and hedging transactions.
Interest income consists of interest from our investment in available for sale marketable securities.
Interest expense consists of interest related to loans taken by Kokam and SolarEdge Automation Machines, advance payments received for performance obligations that extend for a period greater than one year, related to Accounting Standard Codification 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (ASC 606), interest related to Accounting Standard Codification 842, “Leases” (ASC 842) and the accretion of the debt discount and amortization of debt issuance cost associated with our Notes due 2025.
Our functional currency is the U.S. Dollar. With respect to certain of our subsidiaries, the functional currency is the applicable local currency. Financial expenses, net is net of financial income which consists primarily of the effect of foreign exchange differences between the U.S. Dollar and the New Israeli Shekel, the Euro, the Korean Won and other currencies related to our monetary assets and liabilities, and the realization of gains or losses from hedging transactions.
Taxes on income
We are subject to income taxes in the countries where we operate.
In the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded net income tax expenses of $6.7 million for federal and state tax in the U.S., which consists of $10.1 million current income tax expenses and $3.4 million deferred tax benefit. In the year ended December 31, 2020, we recorded net income tax expenses of $4.6 million for federal and state tax in the United States, which consists of $1.8 million current income tax expenses and $2.8 million deferred tax expenses. The decrease in tax liability was mainly due to lower taxable income for Federal tax and Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income or GILTI Tax.
On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Act”) was signed into law making significant changes to U.S. income tax law. These changes include, but are not limited to, a corporate tax rate decrease from 35% to 21% effective for tax years 2018 onwards, created new tax liability on certain foreign-sourced earnings and certain related-party payments. Due to the timing of the enactment and the complexity involved in applying the provisions of the Tax Act, we made reasonable estimates of the effects and recorded provisional amounts in our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2017. As we collected and prepared necessary data, and interpreted the additional guidance issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, the IRS, and other standard-setting bodies, we made adjustments, over the course of 2018, to the provisional amounts including refinements to deferred taxes. The accounting for the tax effects of the Tax Act was completed as of December 31, 2018.
The Tax Act required us to pay U.S. income taxes on accumulated foreign subsidiary earnings not previously subject to U.S. income tax at a rate of 15.5% to the extent of foreign cash and certain other net current assets and 8% on the remaining earnings. The Company has elected to pay its transition tax over an eight-year period as provided in the Tax Act.
SolarEdge Technologies Ltd., our Israeli subsidiary, is taxed under Israeli law. Income not eligible for benefits under the Investments Law is taxed at the corporate tax rate. The Israeli corporate tax rate is 23%.
Our Israeli subsidiary elected tax year 2012 as a “Year of Election” for “Benefited Enterprise” under the Israeli Investments Law, which provides certain benefits, including tax exemptions and reduced tax rates. Upon meeting the requirements under the Israeli Investments Law, income derived from productive activity under the Benefited Enterprise status, would subject to certain terms and limits, will be exempt from tax for two years from the year in which the Israeli subsidiary first generated taxable income. Since the Israeli subsidiary utilized all of its carryforwards losses in the six months ended on December 31, 2016, and was granted an approval by the Israeli Tax Authorities (“ITA”) in this regard, the two-year tax exemption has ended on December 31, 2018.
The Investment Law was amended in 2005 and was further amended as of January 1, 2011 and in August 2013 (the “2011 Amendment”). The 2011 Amendment canceled the availability of the benefits granted in accordance with the provisions of the Investments Law prior to 2011 and, instead, introduced new benefits for income generated by a “Preferred Company” through its “Preferred Enterprise” (both as defined in the 2011 Amendment). Under the 2011 Amendment, income derived by Preferred Companies from Preferred Enterprise would be subject to a uniform rate of corporate tax for an unlimited period as opposed to the incentives prior to the 2011 Amendment that were limited to income from Approved or Benefited Enterprise during the respective benefits period. According to the 2011 Amendment (considering the rates as amended in the 2017 Amendment as defined herein), the tax rate applicable to such income, referred to as “Preferred Income”, would be 7.5% in areas in Israel that are designated as Development Zone A and 16% elsewhere in Israel in the year 2017 and thereafter. Under the transitional provisions of the 2011 Amendment, companies may elect to irrevocably implement the 2011 Amendment while waiving benefits provided under the legislation prior to the 2011 Amendment or keep implementing the legislation prior to the 2011 Amendment.
In December 2016, Amendment 73 to the Investments Law (the “2017 Amendment”) was published. According to the 2017 Amendment, special tax tracks for technological enterprises have been introduced, which are subject to rules that were issued by the Israeli Ministry of Finance. A Technological Preferred Enterprise, as defined in the 2017 Amendment, that is located in the central region of Israel, will be subject to tax at a rate of 12% on profits deriving from intellectual property (in Development Zone A - a tax rate of 7.5%). Our Israeli subsidiary has established its own manufacturing facilities for inverters and optimizers in Israel, located in a Development Zone A.
On June 14, 2017, the Encouragement of Capital Investments Regulations (Preferred Technological Income and Capital Gain for Technological Enterprise), 2017 (the “Regulations”) were published. The Regulations describe, inter alia, the mechanism used to determine the calculation of the benefits under the PTE regime and determine certain requirements relating to documentation of intellectual property for the purpose of the PTE. According to these provisions, a company that complies with the terms under the PTE regime may be entitled to certain tax benefits with respect to certain income generated during the company’s regular course of business and derived from the preferred intangible asset (as determined in the Investments Law), excluding certain portion of income as prescribed therein.
As of January 2019, our Israeli subsidiary elected to implement the 2011 and 2017 Amendments starting as of tax year 2019 and as a result, under the PTE regime with respect to our business activities in Israel, we expect that it will be entitled to an effective tax at a rate of approximately 12% in 2020.
The Law for the Encouragement of Industry (Taxes), 1969, (the “Industry Encouragement Law”), provides certain tax benefits for an ‘Industrial Company’ as such term is defined in the Industry Encouragement Law. An Industrial Company is entitled to certain tax benefits including, inter alia: (i) amortization over an eight-year period of the cost of purchased know-how and patents and rights to use a patent and know-how which are used for the development or advancement of the company; and (ii) accelerated depreciation rates on equipment and buildings. Eligibility for benefits under the Industry Encouragement Law is not subject to receipt of prior approval from any governmental authority. We believe that our Israeli subsidiary currently qualifies as an Industrial Company; however, there can be no assurance that it will continue to so qualify or that the benefits described above will be available to it in the future. Furthermore, the ITA may determine that we do not qualify as an Industrial Company, which could entail a loss of the benefits that relate to that status.
Israeli tax law (Section 20A of the Tax Ordinance) allows, under certain conditions, a tax deduction for certain research and development expenses as prescribed in the Tax Ordinance for the year in which they are paid, subject to appropriate approval by the relevant Israeli government ministry, determined by the field of research. Expenses incurred in scientific research that are not approved by the relevant Israeli government ministry will be deductible over a three-year period commencing from the tax year in which they are paid. To date, our Israeli subsidiary has not obtained such approval.
Results of Operations
The following tables set forth our consolidated statements of income for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2020. We have derived this data from our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report. This information should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this this Annual Report. The results of historical periods are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for any future period.
Comparison of year ended December 31, 2020 and year ended December 31, 2019
Year ended December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
Revenues
$
1,459,271
$
1,425,660
33,611
2.4
%
Cost of revenues
997,912
946,322
51,590
5.5
%
Gross profit
461,359
479,338
(17,979
)
(3.8
)%
Operating expenses:
Research and development
163,123
121,351
41,772
34.4
%
Sales and marketing
95,985
87,984
8,001
9.1
%
General and administrative
63,119
49,361
9,858
20.0
%
Other operating expenses (income)
(3,429
)
30,696
(34,125
)
N/A
Total operating expenses
318,798
289,392
25,506
8.8
%
Operating income
142,561
189,946
(43,485
)
(22.9
)%
Financial expenses (income), net
(21,105
)
11,343
(32,448
)
N/A
Income before taxes on income
163,666
178,603
(11,037
)
(6.2
)%
Taxes on income
23,344
33,646
(9,841
)
(29.2
)%
Net income
$
140,322
$
144,957
(1,196
)
(0.8
)%
Net loss attributable to Non-controlling interests
-
1,592
(1,592
)
(100.0
)%
Net income attributable to SolarEdge Technologies Inc.
$
140,322
$
146,549
(2,788
)
(1.9
)%
Revenues
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
Revenues
$
1,459,271
$
1,425,660
$
33,611
2.4
%
Revenues increased by $33.6 million, or 2.4%, in the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily due to (i) an increase of $99.1 million in sales generated from Europe and the rest of world;(ii) an increased proportion of solar related products and services; (iii) price increases on products sold in the United States intended to offset the increase in tariffs on China made products imposed in June 2019. This increase was partially offset by $65.5 million less sales in the United States compared to 2019 which we attribute principally to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy in the United States. Revenues from outside of the U.S. comprised 58.0% of our revenues in the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to 52.4% in the year ended December 31, 2019.
The number of power optimizers recognized as revenues decreased by approximately 0.2 million units, or 1.7%, from approximately 15.7 million units in 2019 to approximately 15.5 million units in 2020. The number of inverters recognized as revenues decreased by approximately 1,000 units, or 0.2%, from approximately 664,000 units in 2019 to approximately 663,000 units in 2020. Our blended ASP per watt for solar products shipped decreased by $0.018, or 7.5%, in 2020 as compared to 2019. This reduction in both product units and blended ASP is primarily attributed to higher revenues from the sale of commercial products mainly in the U.S, that are characterized with lower ASP per watt, as well as a change in our customer mix in the United States toward larger customers that enjoy preferable pricing. This ASP erosion was partially offset by an increased rate of revenues driven from the sale of residential products mainly in Europe that are characterized with higher ASP per watt, as well as the strengthening of the Euro against the U.S. dollar.
In our solar business, we expect that revenues in the first quarter of 2021, will increase in the United States. This increase is expected to be slightly offset by decrease in revenues in Europe due to seasonality which is typically experienced in Europe during the first quarter of the year. In addition, we expect an increase in overall revenues from the sale of full powertrain kits and batteries to an automotive manufacturer by SolarEdge e-Mobility which is part of our non-solar business.
Cost of Revenues and Gross Profit
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
Cost of revenues
$
997,912
$
946,322
$
51,590
5.5
%
Gross profit
$
461,359
$
479,338
$
(17,979
)
(3.8
)%
Cost of revenues increased by $51.6 million, or 5.5%, in 2020 as compared to 2019, primarily due to:
•
an increase in warranty expenses and warranty accruals of $8.6 million associated primarily with an increase of products in our install base; this increase was partially offset by various cost reductions on the different elements of our warranty expenses which include the cost of the products, shipment and other related expenses;
•
an increase in other production costs of $32.7 million, which is mainly attributed to changes in raw material inventory valuations related to manufacturing volumes, anticipated future use of such raw materials and inventory write-offs. In addition, this amount includes $1.3 million related to ramp up costs associated with the commencement of production in our Sella 1 manufacturing facility and $2.9 million related to the ramp of manufacturing in SolarEdge e-Mobility; and
•
an increase in personnel-related costs of $5.8 million related to the expansion of our production, operations and support headcount which grew in parallel to our growing install base worldwide and in connection with entering into the machinery and integrated powertrain markets.
These increases were partially offset by
•
a slight decrease in the volume of products sold; and
•
a decrease in shipment and logistic costs of $12.0 million, mainly attributed to a decrease in air shipment costs resulted from higher inventory levels.
In our solar business we anticipate that our cost of revenues per unit will remain stable in the first quarter of 2021.
Gross profit as a percentage of revenue decreased from 33.6% in 2019 to 31.6% in 2020 as a result of the above detailed analysis.
We expect that gross margin as a percent of revenues will increase in the first quarter of 2021 compared to that of the fourth quarter of 2020.
In light of the uncertain impact of COVID-19 on the rate of growth of our acquired businesses, accounting estimates and assumptions related to goodwill, intangible and other assets may change over time in response to uncertain circumstances related to this evolving situation. Such changes could result in future impairments of goodwill, intangible and other assets.
Operating Expenses:
Research and Development
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
Research and development
$
163,123
$
121,351
$
41,772
34.4
%
Research and development costs increased by $41.8 million, or 34.4%, in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily due to:
•
an increase in personnel-related costs of $30.0 million resulting from an increase in our research and development headcount as well as salary expenses associated with employee equity-based compensation. The increase in headcount reflects our continuing investment in enhancements of existing products as well as research and development expenses associated with bringing new products to the market; and
•
increased expenses related to consultants and sub-contractors in an amount of $8.5 million;
We expect that our research and development expenses in the first quarter of 2021 will slightly increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, primarily due to the expected return to growth trajectory and our continued investment in our non-solar businesses.
Sales and Marketing
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
Sales and marketing
$
95,985
$
87,984
$
8,001
9.1
%
Sales and marketing expenses increased by $8.0 million, or 9.1%, in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily due to increased personnel-related costs of $11.8 million as a result of an increase in headcount supporting our growth in Israel and rest of world, as well as salary expenses associated with employee equity-based compensation.
These were partially offset by:
•
a decrease in expenses related to marketing activities by $2.5 million due to the cancellation or postponement of marketing activities, exhibitions and shows, which changes were triggered by COVID-19; and
•
decreased expenses related to travel in an amount of $3.2 million.
We expect sales and marketing expenses to slightly decrease in the first quarter of 2021 primarily due to lower salary expenses associated with employee equity-based compensation partially offset by an increase in our sales and marketing headcount.
General and Administrative
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
General and administrative
$
63,119
$
49,361
$
13,758
27.9
%
General and administrative expenses increased by $13.8 million, or 27.9%, in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily due to:
•
increased personnel-related costs of $8.2 million resulting from an increase in headcount due to hiring of senior executives and the expansion of G&A functions in the non-solar businesses, as well as salary expenses associated with employee equity-based compensation; and
•
increased provision of $4.1 million in connection with legal claims.
We expect that in the first quarter of 2021, G&A expenses will continue to increase as a result of senior management expansion and the roll back of certain COVID-19 measures.
Other operating (income) expenses
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(in thousands)
Other operating (income) expenses
$
(3,429
)
$
30,696
$
(34,125
)
N/A
Other operating income was $3.4 million in 2020, compared to other operating expenses of $30.7 million in 2019, primarily due to:
•
a decrease in expenses in the amount of $8.3 million related to payroll, bonus and employees’ equity-based compensation acceleration incurred in 2019 due to the untimely death of Mr. Guy Sella, our Founder, who had served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors until shortly before his passing;
•
a decrease in expenses in the amount of $12.2 million related to compensation expenses incurred in 2019 resulting from a modification in PSU terms originally granted as part of the acquisition of SolarEdge Automation Machines . This modification was part of a separation agreement with a former SolarEdge Automation Machines executive;
•
a decrease in expenses in the amount of $5.3 million related to the sale of a SolarEdge e-Mobility subsidiary originally acquired as part of the SolarEdge Automation Machines acquisition; and
•
a decrease in expenses in the amount of $4.9 million incurred in the fourth quarter of 2019 related to an acquired legal claim as part of the Kokam acquisition of which was settled in arbitration for $4.9 million in the first quarter of 2020.
These were partially offset by $1.5 million expenses related to write-offs of identifiable intangible assets in SolarEdge e-Mobility, which we ceased to use during 2020.
Financial expenses (income), net
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
Financial expenses (income), net
$
(21,105
)
$
11,343
$
(32,448
)
N/A
Financial income was $21.1 million in 2020 compared to financial expenses of $11.3 million in 2019, primarily due to an increase of $43.1 million in financial income resulted from foreign exchange fluctuations, mainly between each of the Euro, the New Israeli Shekel, the Australian Dollar and the South Korean Won against the U.S. Dollar.
The increase in this income was partially offset by:
•
an increase of $4.0 million in costs related to hedging transactions in 2020;
•
a decrease of $3.7 million in interest income and accretion (amortization) of discount (premium) on marketable securities; and
•
an increase of $3.2 million related to the accretion of the debt discount and amortization of debt issuance cost associated with our Notes due 2025.
Taxes on Income
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
Taxes on income
$
23,344
$
33,646
$
(10,302
)
(30.6
)%
Taxes on income decreased by $10.3 million, or 30.6%, in 2020 as compared to 2019, primarily due to:
•
a decrease of $10.6 million of current tax expenses mainly attributed to a decrease in taxable income and GILTI taxes, both due to higher deductible expenses in 2020 compared to 2019; and
•
a decrease in previous years taxes of $2.3 million.
This decrease was partially offset by a decrease of $2.6 million in deferred tax assets, net.
Net Income
Year Ended
December 31,
2019 to 2020
Change
(In thousands)
Net income
$
140,322
$
144,957
$
(4,635
)
(3.2
)%
As a result of the factors discussed above, net income decreased by $4.6 million, or 3.2%, in 2020 as compared to 2019.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The following table shows our cash flows from operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities for the stated periods:
Fiscal Year ended December 31,
(In thousands)
Net cash provided by operating activities
$
259,000
$
222,655
Net cash used in investing activities
(152,853
)
(236,637
)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities
(73,021
)
640,484
Increase (decrease) in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash
$
33,126
$
827,146
As of December 31, 2020, our cash and cash equivalents were $827.1 million. This amount does not include $291.1 million invested in available for sale marketable securities, $2.6 million invested in restricted bank deposits and $60.1 million invested in short-term bank deposits. Our principal uses of cash are for funding our operations and other working capital requirements. As of December 31, 2020, we have open commitments for capital expenditures in an amount of approximately $79.4 million. These commitments reflect purchases of automated assembly lines and other machinery related to our manufacturing operations. We also have purchase obligations in the amount of $380.1 million related to raw materials and commitments for the future manufacturing of our products. We believe that cash provided by operating activities as well as our cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months including the self-funding of our capital expenditure commitments.
We expect cash flow from operating activities to continue and increase in the next quarter due to increased revenues and profitability, this cash in addition to the cash balances already exist is sufficient to meet the Company’s entire operational and capital needs.
Operating Activities
During 2020, cash provided by operating activities was $222.7 million derived mainly from net income of $140.3 million that included $103.4 million of non-cash expenses, a decrease of $86.5 million in trade receivables, an increase of $11.6 million in accrued expenses and other accounts payable, $32.3 million in warranty obligations, $18.3 million accruals for employees, $3.3 million in trade payables and $1.4 million in operating lease liabilities. This was offset by an increase of $149.7 million in inventories and $3.3 million in prepaid expenses and other accounts receivable and a decrease of $21.4 million in deferred revenues.
During 2019, cash provided by operating activities was $259.0 million derived mainly from net income of $145.0 million that included $87.3 million of non-cash expenses. An increase of $50.8 million in warranty obligations, $83.1 million in deferred revenues, $47.8 million in trade payables, $38.1 in accrued expenses and other accounts payable, $18.6 million accruals for employees and $2.2 million in operating lease liabilities. This was offset by an increase of $124.1 million in trade receivables, $22.5 million in inventories and $67.3 million in prepaid expenses and other accounts receivable.
Investing Activities
During 2020 net cash used in investing activities was $236.6 million, of which $223.7 million was invested in available-for-sale marketable securities, $126.8 million was related to capital investments in laboratory equipment, end of line testing equipment, automated assembly lines, manufacturing tools and leasehold improvements and $54.7 million was invested in short term bank deposits. This was offset by $141.8 million from maturities of available-for-sale marketable securities, $25.3 million from the withdrawal from restricted bank deposits and $1.5 million in proceeds related to other investing activities.
During 2019, net cash used in investing activities was $152.9 million, of which $160.1 million was invested in available-for-sale marketable securities, $38.4 million was utilized for the acquisition of SolarEdge Automation Machines, $72.6 million was related to capital investments in laboratory equipment, end of line testing equipment, automated assembly lines, manufacturing tools and leasehold improvements, $26.1 million was invested in restricted bank deposits and $3.3 million was decreased in relation to the sale of a SolarEdge Automation Machines subsidiary originally acquired as part of the acquisition of SolarEdge Automation Machines. This was offset by $142.7 million from sales and maturities of available-for-sale marketable securities and $4.9 million decrease in short-term bank deposits.
Financing Activities
During 2020, net cash provided by financing activities was $640.5 million, of which $632.5 million were proceeds from the issuance of the Notes, net of $14.6 million of issuance costs, $16.9 million related to proceeds from new bank loans and $21.5 million attributed to cash received from the exercise of employee and non-employee stock-based awards including withholding taxes effect. This was offset by $15.8 million used for repayment of loans we acquired as part of the Kokam acquisition.
During 2019, net cash used in financing activities was $73.0 million, of which $71.5 million was related to the purchase of non-controlling interests, $9.2 million was used for repayment of loans we acquired as part of the acquisition of Kokam and the acquisition of SolarEdge Automation Machines and $1.4 million related to the purchase of land and building formerly leased under a financial lease. This was offset by $9.1 million attributed to cash received from the exercise of employee and non-employee stock-base awards.
Convertible Senior Note
On September 25, 2020, we issued $632.5 million aggregate principal amount of our Convertible Senior Notes or Notes in a transaction exempt from registration pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S under the Securities Act. Net proceeds from the offering, after underwriters’ discount and commissions and offering expenses, was $617.9 million. We intend to use the proceeds of the Notes for general corporate purposes. See Note 11 to our annual financial statements for more information.
Debt Obligations
During 2020, we redeemed all outstanding loans, including the bank loan obligations acquired as part of the acquisition of Kokam and entered into new bank loans in an aggregate amount of $15.2 million. The new bank loans mature in two installments through June 30, 2021, with monthly interest rate of 1.54%. As of December 31, 2020, the aggregate outstanding amount of the new bank loans was $16.8 million. In addition, during 2020, we entered into a second new bank loan in an aggregate amount of $1.4 million. The second bank loan matures in September 2030, with a monthly interest rate of 2.5%. As of December 31, 2020, the aggregate outstanding amount of the second bank loan was $1.5 million.
Inflation
We do not believe that inflation had a material effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations in the last three years. If our costs were to become subject to significant inflationary pressures, we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Contractual Obligations
The following table summarizes our outstanding contractual obligations as of December 31, 2019:
Payment Due By Period
Total
Less Than 1 Year
1 - 3 Years
4 - 5 Years
More Than 5 Years
(In thousands)
Operating and finance leases(1)
$
83,324
12,998
28,019
3,908
38,284
Purchase commitments under agreements(2)
$
380,100
380,100
-
-
-
Capital expenditures(3)
$
79,447
79,447
-
-
-
0.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025(4)
$
632,500
-
-
-
-
Total
$
1,175,371
$
472,545
$
28,019
$
3,908
$
38,284
(1)
Represents future minimum lease commitments under non-cancellable operating lease agreements through which we lease our operating facilities.
(2)
Represents non-cancelable amounts associated with our manufacturing contracts. Such purchase commitments are based on our forecasted manufacturing requirements and typically provide for fulfillment within agreed-upon or commercially standard lead-times for the particular part or product. The timing and amounts of payments represent our best estimates and may change due to business needs and other factors.
(3)
Represents non-cancelable amounts associated with purchases of automated assembly lines and other machinery related to our manufacturing.
(4)
For additional information, see Note 12 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements in the year ended December 31, 2018, the year ended December 31, 2019 or the year ended December 31, 2020.
Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Management Estimates
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. (“GAAP”). The preparation of consolidated financial statements also requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, costs and expenses, and related disclosures. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ significantly from the estimates made by our management. To the extent that there are differences between our estimates and actual results, our future financial statement presentation, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows will be affected. We believe that the accounting policies discussed below are critical to understanding our historical and future performance, as these policies relate to the more significant areas involving management’s judgments and estimates. Critical accounting policies and estimates are those that we consider the most important to the portrayal of our financial condition and results of operations because they require our most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effects of matters that are inherently uncertain. See Note 2 to our annual financial statements for more information.
Revenue Recognition
Effective January 1, 2018, we adopted the Accounting Standards Codification 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (ASC 606) using the modified retrospective method applied to those contracts which were not substantially completed as of January 1, 2018. As a result of this adoption, we revised our accounting policy for revenue recognition as detailed below.
We generate revenues from the sale of DC optimized inverter systems for solar PV installations which include our power optimizers, inverters, and cloud-based monitoring platform as well as other solar related products, UPS systems, Lithium-ion cells, batteries, energy storage solutions, EV powertrain solutions and machinery. Our worldwide customer base includes large solar installers, distributors, EPCs, PV module manufacturers, utility companies and other customers. Our products are fully functional at the time of shipment to the customer and do not require production, modification, or customization with the exception of some UPS and ESS systems that require installation and commissioning. We recognize revenue under the core principle that transfer of control to the customers should be depicted in an amount reflecting the consideration we expect to receive in revenue. In order to achieve that core principle, we apply the following five-step approach: (1) identify the contract with a customer, (2) identify the performance obligations in the contract, (3) determine the transaction price, (4) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract, and (5) recognize revenue when a performance obligation is satisfied. Provisions for rebates, sales incentives, and discounts to customers are accounted for as reductions in revenue in the same period that the related sales are recorded.
We generally sell our products to our customers pursuant to a customer’s standard purchase order and our customary terms and conditions. We do not offer rights to return our products other than for normal warranty conditions, and as such, revenue is recorded upon shipment of products to customers and transfer of title and risk of loss under standard commercial terms. We evaluate the creditworthiness of our customers to determine that appropriate credit limits are established prior to the acceptance and shipment of an order.
We provide our full web-based monitoring platform for our solar products free of charge and revenues associated with the service since that date are being recognized ratably over 25 years. In the absence of third party comparable pricing for such service, management determines the revenue levels of this service based on the costs associated with providing the service plus appropriate margins that reflect management’s best estimate of the selling price. These revenues are minimal and we do not expect this to become a significant source of revenue in the near future.
The most significant impact of the standard on our financial statements relates to advance payments received for performance obligations that extend for a period greater than one year. Applying the standard, such performance obligations are those that include a financing component, specifically: (i) warranty extension services, (ii) cloud-based monitoring, and (iii) communication services.
We recognize financing component expenses in our consolidated statement of income in relation to advance payments for performance obligations that extend for a period greater than one year. These financing component expenses are reflected in our deferred revenues balance. The cumulative adjustments have decreased the retained earnings by $3.9 million while increasing the deferred revenues by the same amount.
Product Warranty
We provide a standard limited product warranty for our solar products against defects in materials and workmanship under normal use and service conditions. Our standard warranty period is 25 years for our power optimizers, 12 years for our inverters, and 10 years for our storage interface. Other products are sold with standard limited warranties that typically range in duration from one to ten years, and in some cases for a longer period. In certain cases, customers can purchase an extended warranty for Critical Power products and our battery storage products that exceed the standard warranty period. In addition, customers can purchase extended warranties for inverters that increase the warranty period to up to 25 years.
Our products are designed to meet the warranty periods and our reliability procedures cover component selection, design, accelerated life cycle tests, and end-of-manufacturing line testing. However, since our history in selling power optimizers and inverters is substantially shorter than the warranty period, the calculation of warranty provisions is inherently uncertain.
We accrue for estimated warranty costs at the time of sale based on anticipated warranty claims and actual historical warranty claims experience. Warranty provisions, computed on a per-unit sold basis, are based on our best estimate of such costs and are included in our cost of revenues. The warranty obligation is determined based on actual and predicted failure rates of the products, cost of replacement and service and delivery costs incurred to correct a product failure. Our warranty obligation requires management to make assumptions regarding estimated failure rates and replacement costs.
In order to predict the failure rate of each of our products, we have established a reliability model based on the estimated mean time between failures (“MTBF”). The MTBF represents the average elapsed time predicted for each product unit between failures during operation. Applying the MTBF failure rate over our install base for each product type and generation allows us to predict the number of failed units over the warranty period and estimates the costs associated with the product warranty. Predicted failure rates are updated periodically based on data returned from the field and new product versions, as are replacement costs which are updated to reflect changes in our actual production costs for our products, subcontractors’ labor costs, and actual logistics costs.
Since the MTBF model does not take into account additional non-systematic failures such as failures caused by workmanship or manufacturing or design-related issues, and since warranty claims are at times opened for cases in which the error has been triggered by an improper installation, we have developed a supplemental model to predict such cases and recognize the associated expenses ratably over the expected claim period. This model, which is based on actual root cause analysis of returned products, identification of the causes of claims and time until each identified problem is revealed, allows us to better predict actual warranty expenses and is updated periodically based on our experience, taking into account the installed base of approximately 61.6 million power optimizers and approximately 2.6 million inverters as of December 31, 2020.
If actual warranty costs differ significantly from these estimates, adjustments may be required in the future, which could adversely affect our gross profit and results of operations. Warranty obligations are classified as short-term and long-term warranty obligations based on the period in which the warranty is expected to be claimed. The warranty provision (short and long-term) was $172.6 million and $205.0 million, in the year ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Inventory Valuation
Our inventories comprise sellable finished goods, raw materials bought for own manufacturing or on behalf of our contract manufacturers, and faulty units returned under our warranty policy.
Sellable finished goods and raw material inventories are valued at the lower of cost or market, based on the moving average cost method. Certain factors could affect the realizable value of our inventories, including market and economic conditions, technological changes, existing product changes (mainly due to cost reduction activities), and new product introductions. We consider historic usage, expected demand, anticipated sales price, the effect of new product introductions, product obsolescence, product merchantability, and other factors when evaluating the value of inventories. Inventory write-downs are equal to the difference between the cost of inventories and their estimated fair market value. Inventory write-downs are recorded as cost of revenues in the accompanying statements of income and were $4.5 million and $8.9 million, in the year ended December 31, 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Faulty products returned under our warranty policy are often refurbished and used as replacement units. Such products are written off upon receipt.
We do not believe that there is a reasonable likelihood that there will be a material change in future estimates or assumptions that we use to record inventory at the lower of cost or market. However, if estimates regarding customer demand are inaccurate or changes in technology affect demand for certain products in an unforeseen manner, we may be exposed to losses that could be material.
Business Combination
We allocate the fair value of purchase consideration to the tangible assets acquired, liabilities assumed and intangible assets acquired based on their estimated fair value. The excess of the fair value of purchase consideration over the fair values of these identifiable assets and liabilities is recorded as goodwill. Such valuations require our management to make significant estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets. Significant estimates in valuing certain intangible assets include, but are not limited to, future expected cash flows from acquired technology and other intangible assets, their useful lives and discount rates. Our management’s estimates of fair value are based upon assumptions believed to be reasonable, but which are inherently uncertain and unpredictable and, as a result, actual results may differ from estimates. During the measurement period, which is not to exceed one year from the acquisition date, we may record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed, with the corresponding offset to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period, any subsequent adjustments are recorded to earnings.
Intangible and other long-lived assets
We evaluate the recoverability of finite-lived intangible assets for possible impairment whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. The evaluation is performed at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. Recoverability of these assets is measured by a comparison of the carrying amounts to the future undiscounted cash flows the assets are expected to generate. If such review indicates that the carrying amount of intangible assets is not recoverable, the carrying amount of such assets is reduced to fair value. We have not recorded any impairment charges during the year ended December 31, 2020.
Acquired identifiable finite-lived intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis or accelerated method over the estimated useful lives of the assets. We believe the basis of amortization approximates the pattern in which the assets are utilized, over their estimated useful lives. We routinely review the remaining estimated useful lives of finite-lived intangible assets. In case we reduce the estimated useful life assumption for any asset, the remaining unamortized balance is amortized or depreciated over the revised estimated useful life.
Goodwill
Goodwill reflects the excess of the consideration transferred, including the fair value of any contingent consideration and any non-controlling interest in the acquiree, over the assigned fair values of the identifiable net assets acquired. Goodwill is not amortized, and is assigned to reporting units and tested for impairment at least on an annual basis, in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.
The goodwill impairment test is performed according to the following principles:
(1) An initial qualitative assessment may be performed to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount.
(2)If the Company concludes it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying mount, a quantitative fair value test is performed. An impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value is recognized.
We complete the required annual testing of goodwill for impairment for the reporting unit on October 1 of each year and accordingly, determines whether goodwill should be impaired. As of December 31, 2020, no impairment of goodwill has been identified.
Income taxes
We account for income taxes in accordance with ASC 740, “Income Taxes.” ASC 740, which prescribes the use of the liability method, whereby deferred tax asset and liability account balances are determined based on differences between financial reporting and tax basis of assets and liabilities, and are measured using the enacted tax rates that will be in effect when the differences are expected to reverse.
We account for uncertain tax positions in accordance with ASC 740. ASC 740-10 contains a two-step approach to recognizing and measuring uncertain tax positions. The first step is to evaluate the tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that, on an evaluation of the technical merits, the tax position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes. The second step is to measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50% (cumulative probability) likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
ITEM 7A.QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
We are exposed to market risk in the ordinary course of our business. Market risk represents the risk of loss that may impact our financial position due to adverse changes in financial market prices and rates. Our market risk exposure is primarily a result of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, customer concentrations, and interest rates. We do not hold or issue financial instruments for trading purposes.
Foreign Currency Exchange Risk
Approximately 41.2% 48.7% and 52.2% of our revenues for the year ended December 31, 2018, the year ended December 31, 2019 and the year ended December 31, 2020, respectively, were earned in non-U.S. dollar denominated currencies, principally the Euro. Our expenses are generally denominated in the currencies in which our operations are located, primarily the U.S. dollar and New Israeli Shekel, Euro, and to a lesser extent, the Korean Won. Our New Israeli Shekel-denominated expenses consist primarily of personnel and overhead costs. Our consolidated results of operations and cash flows are, therefore, subject to fluctuations due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates and may be adversely affected in the future due to changes in foreign exchange rates. A hypothetical 10% change in foreign currency exchange rates between the Euro and the U.S. dollar would increase or decrease our net income by $51.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. A hypothetical 10% change in foreign currency exchange rates between the New Israeli Shekel and the U.S. dollar would increase or decrease our net income by $14.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. A hypothetical 10% change in foreign currency exchange rates during the year ended December 31, 2020, between the Korean Won and the U.S. Dollar would increase or decrease our net income by $10.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.
For purposes of our consolidated financial statements, local currency assets and liabilities are translated at the rate of exchange to the U.S. dollar on the balance sheet date and local currency revenues and expenses are translated at the exchange rate as of the date of the transaction or at the average exchange rate to the U.S. dollar during the reporting period.
To date, we have used derivative financial instruments, specifically foreign currency forward contracts, to manage exposure to foreign currency risks by hedging portions of the anticipated payroll payments denominated in New Israeli Shekels (“NIS”). Our foreign currency forward contracts are expected to mitigate exchange rate changes related to the hedged assets. Those hedging contracts are designated as cash flow hedges.
In addition, we also entered into derivative instrument arrangements to hedge the Company’s exposure to currencies other than the U.S. dollar, mainly put and call options to sell Euro for U.S. dollars, put and call options to sell Australian dollars (“AUD”) for U.S. dollars and forward contracts to sell AUD for U.S. dollars, forward contracts to sell Euro for U.S. dollars and forward contracts to sell U.S. dollars for South Korean Won (“KRW”). These derivative instruments are not designated as cash flow hedges.
We had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $223.8 million and $827.1 at the end of the year ending December 31, 2019 and the year ended December 31, 2020, respectively, which was held for working capital purposes. We had available-for-sale marketable securities with an estimated fair value of $211.0 million and $291.1 million on December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2020, respectively. In addition, we had bank deposits of $5.0 million and $60.1 million as of December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2020, respectively. We had restricted bank deposits of $27.6 million and $2.6 million as of December 31, 2019 December 31, 2020, respectively.
Additionally, our hedging activities may also contribute to increased losses as a result of volatility in foreign currency markets. If foreign exchange currency markets continue to be volatile, such fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could materially and adversely affect our profit margins and results of operations in future periods. Also, the volatility in the foreign currency markets may make it difficult to hedge our foreign currency exposures effectively.
Concentrations of Major Customers
Our trade accounts receivables potentially expose us to a concentration of credit risk with our major customers. For the year ended December 31, 2020, one major customer accounted for 14.8% of our total revenues, and as of December 31, 2020, two major customers accounted for approximately 34.6% of our consolidated trade receivables balance. For the year ended December 31, 2019, one major customer accounted for 20.4% of total revenues, and as of December 31, 2019, one major customer accounted for approximately 32.1% of our consolidated trade receivables balance. We currently do not foresee a credit risk associated with these receivables.
Commodity Price Risk
We are subject to risk from fluctuating market prices of certain commodity raw materials, including copper, which are used in our products. Prices of these raw materials may be affected by supply restrictions or other market factors from time to time, and we do not enter into hedging arrangements to mitigate commodity risk. Significant price changes for these raw materials could reduce our operating margins if we are unable to recover such increases from our customers, and could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
ITEM 8.FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA.
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Consolidated Financial Statements
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019
Consolidated Statements of Income for the year ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the year ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018
Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity for the year ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the year ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
Unaudited Quarterly Results of Operations
The following table sets forth our unaudited quarterly consolidated statements of operations data for each of the fiscal years covered by the financial statements provided with this filing. The data presented below has been prepared on the same basis as the audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report and, in the opinion of management, reflects all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of this data. This information should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report. The results of historical periods are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for a full year or any future period.
Mar. 31, 2019
June 30, 2019
Sept. 30, 2019
Dec. 31, 2019
Mar. 31, 2020
June 30, 2020
Sept. 30, 2020
Dec. 31, 2020
Revenues
$
271,871
$
325,010
$
410,556
$
418,223
$
431,218
$
331,851
$
338,095
$
358,107
Cost of revenues
185,761
214,340
271,247
274,974
291,210
228,888
230,032
247,782
Gross profit
86,110
110,670
139,309
143,249
140,008
102,963
108,063
110,325
Operating expenses
Research and development, net
26,199
29,505
30,747
34,900
36,695
38,098
40,817
47,513
Sales and marketing
20,172
22,127
22,026
23,659
24,253
20,936
21,924
28,872
General and administrative
11,691
13,685
12,214
11,771
16,185
13,964
14,928
18,042
Other operating expenses (income)
-
-
8,305
22,391
(4,900
)
-
-
1,471
Total operating expenses
58,062
65,317
73,292
92,721
72,233
72,998
77,669
95,898
Operating income
28,048
45,353
66,017
50,528
67,775
29,965
30,394
14,427
Financial expenses (income)
6,151
(773
)
17,023
(11,058
)
16,605
(11,565
)
(15,765
)
(10,380
)
Income before taxes on income
21,897
46,126
48,994
61,586
51,170
41,530
46,159
24,807
Taxes on income
3,922
13,213
7,270
9,241
8,922
4,862
2,408
7,152
Net income
$
17,975
$
32,913
$
41,724
$
52,345
$
42,248
$
36,668
$
43,571
$
17,655
Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests
(1,041
)
(215
)
(433
)
-
-
-
-
Net income attributable to SolarEdge Technologies Inc.
$
19,016
$
33,128
$
41,627
$
52,778
$
42,248
$
36,668
$
43,751
$
17,655
Subsequent Events
None.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
ITEM 9.CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
ITEM 9A.CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our management, with the participation of our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures pursuant to Rule 13a-15 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), as of December 31, 2020. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. In addition, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and that management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the benefits of possible controls and procedures relative to their costs.
Based on that evaluation, our chief executive officer and chief financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective and operating to provide reasonable assurance that information we are required to disclose in reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms, and to provide reasonable assurance that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting and the preparation of consolidated financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Management assessed our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020. Management based its assessment on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework). Management’s assessment included evaluation of elements such as the design and operating effectiveness of key financial reporting controls, process documentation, accounting policies, and our overall control environment.
Based on this assessment, management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of the end of the year to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of consolidated financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. We reviewed the results of management’s assessment with the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors.
Our independent registered public accounting firm, Kost Forer Gabbay & Kasierer, a member of Ernst & Young, independently assessed the effectiveness of the company’s internal control over financial reporting, as stated in the firm’s attestation report, which is incorporated by reference into Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well-designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. The design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of the effectiveness of controls to future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There have been no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act) that occurred during the fourth fiscal quarter of 2020 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B.OTHER INFORMATION
None.
PART III

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10.DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The information required by Item 10 will be included under the captions “Directors and Corporate Governance”, “The Board’s Role in Risk Oversight”, “Board Committees”, “Director Compensation”, “Compensation Committee Report”, and “Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance” in our definitive Proxy Statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed with the SEC within 120 days of the year ending December 31, 2020 (the "2021 Proxy Statement") and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11.EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The information required by Item 11 will be included under the captions “Executive Compensation” in our 2021 Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
ITEM 12.SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
Except as set forth below, the information required by Item 12 will be included under the captions “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management” in our 2021 Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.
Equity Compensation Plan Information
The following table summarizes information as of December 31, 2020, about shares of common stock that may be issued under our equity compensation plans.
Plan Category
Number of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding stock awards(a)
Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding stock awards
(b)
Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in column (a))
(c)
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders (1)
2,957,346
$
7.47
7,324,042
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders
-
-
-
Total
2,957,346
$
7.47
7,324,042
(1)
Includes in column (a) 2,840,081 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of stock awards outstanding under the Company’s 2015 Global Incentive Plan, 117,265 shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of options outstanding under the Company’s 2007 Global Incentive Plan. Includes in column (c) 5,248,820, shares of common stock available for future issuance under the Company’s 2015 Global Incentive Plan and 2,075,222 shares of common stock available for future issuance under the Company’s Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Upon consummation of our initial public offering, the Company’s 2007 Global Incentive Plan was terminated and no further awards can be granted under this plan.
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
We have adopted an employee stock purchase plan (“ESPP”), pursuant to which our eligible employees and eligible employees of our subsidiaries may elect to have payroll deductions made during the offering period in an amount not exceeding 10% of the compensation which the employees receive on each pay day during the offering period. In the second quarter of calendar 2016, we started granting eligible employees the right to purchase our common stock under the ESPP. As of December 31, 2020, a total of 2,687,451 shares were reserved for issuance under the ESPP. The number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance under the ESPP will increase annually on January 1st, for ten years, by the lesser of 1% of the total number of shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding on December 31st of the preceding calendar year or 487,643 shares. Our board of directors may reduce the number of shares to be added to the share reserve for the ESPP in any particular year at their discretion.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13.CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
The information required by Item 13 will be included under the captions “Transactions with Related Persons” in our 2021 Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
ITEM 14.PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
The information required by Item 14 will be included under the captions “Audit and Related Fees” in our 2021 Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
ITEM 15.EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Our Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto are included in ITEM 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See Index to ITEM 8 for more detail.
All financial schedules have been omitted either because they are not applicable or because the required information is provided in our Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto, included in ITEM 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Index to Exhibits
Exhibit No.
Description
Incorporation by Reference
3.1
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-203193) filed with the SEC on April 2, 2015
3.2
Amended and Restated By-Laws
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-203193) filed with the SEC on April 2, 2015
3.3
Description of Common Stock
Filed with this report.
4.1
Specimen Common Stock Certificate of the Registrant
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 (Registration No. 333-202159) filed with the SEC on March 11, 2015
4.2
Indenture, dated September 25, 2020, between the Company and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to Form 8-K filed with the SEC on September 25, 2020
4.3
Form of 0.000% Convertible Senior Note due 2025 (included in Exhibit 4.2)
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to Form 8-K filed with the SEC on September 25, 2020
10.1†
Employment Agreement, dated August 20, 2019 between SolarEdge Technologies Ltd. and Uri Bechor
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to Form 8-K filed with the SEC on August 21, 2019
10.2
Employment Agreement, dated December 1, 2010, between SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. and Ronen Faier
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 of Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 (Registration No. 333-202159) filed with the SEC on March 11, 2015
10.4†
Employment Agreement, dated May 17, 2009, between SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. and Zvi Lando
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 of Amendment No. 1 to Form S-1 (Registration No. 333-202159) filed with the SEC on March 11, 2015
10.5†
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. 2007 Global Incentive Plan.
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.3 to Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-203193) filed with the SEC on April 2, 2015
10.6†
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. 2015 Global Incentive Plan
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.1 to Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-203193) filed with the SEC on April 2, 2015
10.7†
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. 2015 Employee Stock Purchase Plan
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.2 to Form S-8 (Registration No. 333-203193) filed with the SEC on April 2, 2015
Exhibit No.
Description
Incorporation by Reference
10.11 †
Form of Non-Employee Director RSU Award Agreement
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.11 to Form 10-K filed with the SEC on August 20, 2015
10.12 †
Form of Non-Employee Director Stock Option Award Agreement
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.12 to Form 10-K filed with the SEC on August 20, 2015
10.13 †
Form of Employee RSU Award Agreement
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.13 to Form 10-K filed with the SEC on August 20, 2015
10.14 †
Form of Employee Stock Option Award Agreement
Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.14 to Form 10-K filed with the SEC on August 20, 2015
21.1
List of Subsidiaries of the Registrant
Filed with this report.
23.1
Consent of Kost Forer Gabbay & Kasierer, independent registered public accounting firm
Filed with this report.
24.1
Power of Attorney (included in signature page)
Filed with this report.
31.1
Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
Filed with this report.
31.2
Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and15d-14(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
Filed with this report.
32.1
Certification of Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Filed with this report.
32.2
Certification of Chief Financial Officer, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Filed with this report.
101.INS
XBRL Instance Document - - embedded within the Inline XBRL document
Filed with this report.
101.SCH
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
Filed with this report.
101.CAL
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
Filed with this report.
101.DEF
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
Filed with this report.
101.LAB
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
Filed with this report.
101.PRE
XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
Filed with this report.
Cover Page Interactive Data File - the cover page XBRL tags are embedded within the Inline XBRL document.
Filed with this report.
† Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.