EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1820721
Filing Year: 2021
Filename: 1820721_10-K_2021_0001820721-21-000009.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business
Overview
We are one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ground-mounting systems used in solar energy projects. Our principal product is an integrated system of steel supports, electric motors, gearboxes and electronic controllers commonly referred to as a single-axis “tracker.” Trackers move solar panels throughout the day to maintain an optimal orientation to the sun, which significantly increases their energy production. Solar energy projects that use trackers generate up to 25% more energy and deliver a 22% lower LCOE than projects that use “fixed tilt” mounting systems, which do not move, according to BloombergNEF. Trackers represent between 10% and 15% of the cost of constructing a ground-mounted solar energy project, and approximately 70% of all ground-mounted solar energy projects constructed in the U.S. during 2019 utilized trackers according to BloombergNEF and IHS Markit, respectively.
Our trackers use a patented design that allows one motor to drive multiple rows of solar panels through articulated driveline joints. To avoid infringing on our U.S. patent, our competitors must use designs that we believe are inherently less efficient and reliable. For example, our largest competitor’s design requires one motor for each row of solar panels. As a result, we believe our products have greater reliability, lower installation costs, reduced maintenance requirements and competitive manufacturing costs. Our core U.S. patent on a linked-row, rotating gear drive system does not expire until February 5, 2030.
We sell our products to engineering, procurement and construction firms (“EPCs”) that build solar energy projects and to large solar developers, independent power producers and utilities, often under master supply agreements or multi-year procurement contracts. Our largest customers are EPCs that construct multiple projects for many different end customers who often directly influence or make the decision to use our products. For example, our largest customer in 2019 was an EPC that represented 17% of our sales, but the trackers it purchased were used in 15 different solar projects with five different owners.
Demand for ground-mounting systems is driven by installations of new ground-mounted solar energy projects. Demand for our products and our competitors’ products is a function of the percentage of those new installations that use trackers as opposed to fixed-tilt mounting systems. Historically, we have derived the majority of our revenues from the sale of trackers used in solar energy projects located in the U.S. For example, in 2020, we derived 92% and 8% of our revenues from customers in the U.S. and rest of the world, respectively.
We are a U.S. company and our headquarters and principal manufacturing facility are in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Our Human Capital Management
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 389 full-time employees, of which approximately 96% are located in the U.S., with the balance located in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. 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. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have implemented procedures to reduce the risk of spreading the virus and have implemented an hourly incentive for employees that work in our manufacturing facilities.
We have a team-oriented culture, which we believe helps us to succeed and drive operational excellence. 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.
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.
We aim to hire individuals who share our passion, commitment and entrepreneurial spirit. We are also committed to diversity and inclusion because we believe that diversity leads to better outcomes for our business and enables us to better meet the needs of our customers. We recognize the importance of diversity in leadership roles within our company.
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 9001. Our injury rates are low.
Our Strengths
We believe the following strengths of our business position us to capitalize on continued growth in the solar energy market, reinforce our leadership position in the mounting systems market and distinguish us from our competitors:
•Direct beneficiary of the global energy transition. Nations are rapidly moving to decarbonize their economies in order to reduce air pollution and fight climate change. A key element of decarbonizing the global economy is transitioning electricity generation from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Solar energy has become one of the lowest cost, most reliable and most flexible forms of renewable energy generation and is becoming a preferred option for electricity generation worldwide. As a leading provider of ground-mounting systems for solar energy projects, we benefit directly from the global transition to renewable energy through growing demand for our products. We estimate that approximately 15% of the future spending on ground-mounted solar energy projects can be addressed by our products.
•Products independently verified to deliver the lowest cost of ownership and highest reliability. TÜV Rheinland PTL, found that projects using our tracker system would achieve a 6.7% lower LCOE, 4.5% higher net present value, and 31% lower operations and maintenance cost than projects that used competing single row control architectures. We believe that independent verification of the superior total cost of ownership and higher reliability of our products helps us to attract and retain customers and grow our market share.
•Panel technology agnostic. All solar panels require mounting systems, and our products are designed to work with all types of solar panels. As a result, we do not believe we are exposed to risk from changes in solar panel technology or shifts in market share between different manufacturers of solar panels. As long as there is demand for ground-mounted solar energy projects, we believe there will be demand for our products.
•Large installed base. We believe the large installed base of our products reinforces the advantages of our trackers for both our customers and their financing sources who value established equipment vendors with long product operating histories.
•Demonstrated ability to reduce the cost of our products while maintaining profit margins. In order to enhance the competitiveness of our products and increase our margins, we continually work to reduce the cost of our products through innovation and rigorous supply chain management. These efforts have resulted in a reduction in cost of goods sold per watt by approximately 22% from 2017 through 2020. This has allowed us to reduce average selling prices by approximately 22% over the same period, driving significant increases in revenues, while simultaneously increasing gross profits and maintaining gross margins.
•Experienced engineering team with a track record of continuous innovation. We have successfully introduced three generations of trackers. We believe each new version has delivered significant improvements in performance, reliability and total cost of ownership. As of December 31, 2020, approximately 26% of our salaried employees were engineers with expertise in software, electronics, material science, structural mechanics and civil engineering. We believe that our engineering expertise will enable us to continually improve the functionality and reliability of our products while reducing their cost.
•Intellectual property and trade secrets portfolio. We maintain a portfolio of intellectual property and trade secrets related to our projects and business processes. Our core U.S. patent on a linked-row, rotating gear drive tracker (U.S. Patent No. 8,459,249) has also been issued in a number of other jurisdictions, including Australia, Chile, Germany, the European Patent Office, Spain, France and the U.K. We have also been granted six additional U.S. patents generally covering, among other things, technologies related to panel clamps/brackets,utilizing torque limiters to reduce hinge moment forces, and clearing obstructions. These additional patents have also been issued in a number of jurisdictions and are pending in others around the world. We have obtained trademark protection in the standard character marks “DuraRack” and “DuraTrack,” both of which are on the U.S. principal register and relate to our tracking products. We also utilize many common law trademarks. We have brought successful actions against competitors who have infringed on our intellectual property and our core U.S. patent was recently upheld in an inter partes review by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In addition to our patents, we maintain a portfolio of trade secrets relating to, among other things, our pricing strategies, cost structures, sales pipelines and unpatented technology.
•Highly scalable manufacturing with low capital intensity. We are an engineering and technology centric company with an assembly-focused manufacturing model. Approximately 80% of our cost of goods sold consists of purchased components, including motors, gearboxes, electronic controllers and steel tubing that we source from third-party suppliers. The remainder of our cost of goods sold is primarily labor to fabricate and assemble certain specialized parts of our system. As a result, our business requires minimal capital investment and generates significant cash flow, which has allowed us to make investments in research and development, repay debt and make distributions to our stockholders.
•Rigorous supply chain management supported by a sophisticated ERP system. We have made substantial investments in our systems and supply chain designed to minimize material movement, working capital investment and costs of goods sold while enabling us to rapidly deliver large volumes of our products to project sites around the world. To minimize material movement and working capital investment, we typically ship purchased components representing more than 70% of our cost of goods
sold directly from our suppliers to our customers’ sites. To lower our cost of goods sold, we employ components that are mass produced and widely available to maintain security of supply and to benefit from existing economies of scale. In addition, we believe the large volume of purchases that we make afford us preferential pricing and terms from our suppliers, which creates a competitive advantage.
•U.S. operations that reduce the potential impact of trade tariffs. We are a U.S. company and our principal operations and manufacturing facility are in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We believe our status as a U.S. company with U.S. manufacturing reduces the potential impact of U.S. government tariffs placed on, or other U.S. government regulatory actions taken against, products manufactured in foreign countries.
•Adherence to ESG principles. We believe that our impact on the environment; how we manage our relationships with employees, suppliers, customers and the communities where we operate; and the accountability of our leadership to our stockholders are critically important to our business. We plan to report how we oversee and manage ESG factors material to our business under the GRI, which maintains a public database for governments and businesses to communicate their impacts on climate change, human rights and corruption. As a part of our plan to provide ESG disclosures pursuant to GRI, we will describe how our business contributes to certain UN SDGs.
Our Strategy
Our mission is to leverage our technology, people and processes to deliver solutions for the new energy economy that improve the performance, increase the reliability and reduce the cost of renewable energy. Key elements of our strategy include:
•Delivering product innovations that will convert more customers to our products. We believe we have a long track record of delivering innovative products that lower our customers’ LCOE while maintaining high reliability. Our strategy is to grow our market share by reducing the manufacturing, installation and ownership cost of our products through improved design, performance and cost. We are currently developing the next generation of our DuraTrack system which we believe will deliver significant improvements in all of these areas.
•Leveraging our global supply chain and economies of scale to reduce product cost. Purchased components are the largest contributor to our cost of goods sold. Our strategy is to continually reduce our cost of goods sold by leveraging the large volumes of materials and components we purchase against multiple, qualified suppliers to obtain the best price and terms while ensuring availability of inputs and mitigating the risk of supply chain disruptions.
•Growing our international business. Excluding China, the international market for ground-mounting systems for solar energy projects was more than four times larger than the U.S. market in 2019 according to IHS Markit. From 2014 to 2019, annual installations of ground-mounted solar generation capacity outside of the U.S. and China grew at a compound annual growth rate of 35% according to IHS Markit. While our historical focus has primarily been the U.S. given the size and attractiveness of that market, we have recently made investments in our international sales capability and supply chain to secure and deliver on orders globally. We believe that the share of international solar energy projects that use trackers has the potential to increase to the same level as the U.S. because trackers deliver the same benefits outside the U.S. as they do in the U.S. Components of our international growth strategy include leveraging our relationships with existing customers, many who develop and construct projects globally; marketing region-specific products tailored to the unique needs of particular
geographies; entering into joint-venture or licensing arrangements with companies in certain markets; expanding our relationships with value-added resellers of our products in some countries; and utilizing locally sourced components in our products in jurisdictions where locally sourced components are a regulatory or customer requirement.
•Creating new revenue streams that leverage our large installed base. We believe that the significant and continued growth in our installed base creates opportunities to sell products, software and services related to our tracker systems. Our strategy is to introduce a targeted set of offerings over time, including hardware and software upgrades and retrofits, as well as preventative maintenance and extended warranty plans that we believe can generate high margin, recurring revenues.
•Expanding into related products and services in adjacent markets organically or through acquisition. Our strategy is to leverage our engineering capabilities, supply chain, sales and marketing resources, and customer relationships to expand our business into products and services for adjacent markets. We are currently evaluating markets for related products that are used in solar energy projects, but that we do not currently supply, including foundations and electrical balance of system components, as well as other types of mounting and support structures used in electrical infrastructure. We may enter these markets by developing new products organically or through acquisitions.
Our Products and Services
Our Tracker System
Large-scale solar energy projects are typically laid out in successive “rows” that form an “array.” An array can have dozens of rows with more than 100 solar panels in each row. With a single-axis tracker system, motors and gears cause each row of solar panels to rotate along their north-south axis to continually align the row with the sun throughout the day. Different tracker manufacturers use different approaches to rotate the panels in a row. We have patented single-axis tracker systems that use one electric motor to drive the rotation of multiple rows through articulated driveline joints, require only a single bolt clamp to attach solar panels and automatically stow in high wind conditions. We refer to our design as the “DuraTrack”system. We believe our DuraTrack system has significant advantages, including:
•Requiring fewer motors per megawatt than competing products. Our tracker system uses less than one motor per megawatt which compares with more than 25 motors per megawatt for our largest competitor. Using fewer motors per megawatt lowers the cost, reduces the number of failure points, and minimizes the maintenance requirements of our system. Fewer motors per megawatt also reduces the number of motor controllers and the amount of wiring and other ancillary parts that are required for the system, which further reduces cost, simplifies installation and improves reliability.
•Creating site design flexibility. Our drive-shaft joints articulate, which allows successive rows in the array to be offset by a combined angle of up to 40 degrees horizontally or vertically and accommodates up to a 26% grade. The ability to offset rows allows our customers to accommodate undulating terrain and irregular site boundaries without the need for extensive grading. We estimate that eliminating grading reduces construction costs by $0.01 to $0.07 per watt of installed capacity, maximizes the use of available land and helps preserve the site environment.
•Enabling higher power density than competing products. Our system is designed to minimize “dead space,” which we define as any area in the system that could otherwise be occupied by a solar panel. Minimizing dead space is important to our customers because maximizing power production per acre increases their return on investment. Our system minimizes dead space by locating our gearbox
and drive shafts below the solar panels, as opposed to next to them in some of our competitors’ systems, and by using our patented low-profile clamps that require less than 1/4 inch of spacing between each panel in a row. Together, we believe these features allow our system to generate approximately 5% more power per acre than our largest competitor’s comparative design.
•Making installation easier. The amount of labor and time required during construction are major contributors to the cost of a solar energy project. We believe our tracker is simpler and faster to install than competing products because it has fewer parts, requires only one bolt to attach each solar panel, ships largely preassembled from our factory, is efficiently packaged based on component location in the array rather than by part type, and does not require any special tools to install.
•Automatically stowing in high wind conditions. Most damage to ground-mounted solar arrays is caused by high winds. Avoiding wind damage requires rotating the panels into a position that minimizes lifting forces as wind speeds increase. This feature is commonly referred to as “wind stow.” Most tracker systems rely on anemometers to determine when wind forces reach levels that could damage the array. The anemometers communicate with motor controllers that in turn instruct the motors in the tracker system to rotate the array into a wind stow position. Power to operate the motors is typically provided by a series of batteries. A failure of any of these components can cause the array to fail to stow, which may result in catastrophic damage. Our trackers operate differently. Each row in our system has a gearbox with a patented torque limiting technology which acts as a clutch that releases when wind forces reach a certain level, relieving the pressure on the row by allowing it to rotate freely. We refer to this capability as “passive stow.” As a purely mechanical system, passive stow eliminates the possibility of severe damage to the array from a failure to stow stemming from a loss of power or electronic component failure. Additionally, our trackers stow each row individually based on the wind force at that particular row, which allows unaffected rows in the array to continue to generate power while many of our competitors’ products indiscriminately stow the entire array.
•Having high reliability and no scheduled maintenance. Solar energy projects are expected to operate for at least 30 years, so their reliability and maintenance costs can have a significant impact on the owner’s return on investment. We have designed our tracker to minimize the number of components and potential failure points, provide redundancy in the event of a component failure and eliminate the need for scheduled maintenance, which reduces the total cost of ownership and improves return on investment for the users of our products. Based on an independent analysis by TÜV Rheinland PTL, we believe our system will require 433 times fewer service hours than our largest competitor’s system.
•Incorporating software and machine learning capabilities that enhance performance. Trackers are typically programmed to rotate panels in an array on a defined schedule. These schedules are made based on the average angle of insolation for the general area where the project is located but do not usually take into account the site’s specific terrain, weather or air quality conditions. We have developed a software offering called SmarTrack that uses site-specific weather and energy production data, in combination with machine learning algorithms, to identify the optimal position for a solar array in real time to increase its energy production. Our SmarTrack software does not require additional hardware and DNV-GL, an independent engineering firm, has projected that using our SmarTrack software can increase energy production in certain circumstances by up to 5%.
•Meeting prospective national security requirements for U.S. critical energy infrastructure. Large solar energy projects are subject to heightened and evolving reliability and cybersecurity standards reviewed and approved by the U.S. government. We do not source controllers and other key electronic
components from manufacturers that may be deemed to pose threats to U.S. national security, or rely on open, wireless communication protocols that can be easily hacked. As cyber attacks on infrastructure become more prevalent, we believe the U.S. government will impose increasingly stringent cyber security requirements on solar energy projects.
DuraTrack® HZ v3
Our DuraTrack® HZ v3 was launched in May 2015. The DuraTrack HZ v3 is our third generation single axis tracker and incorporates unique features such as a patented single-bolt per module mounting system that reduces installation time, a passive wind load mitigation system and a low number of motors and controls per MW.
SmarTrack Software
SmarTrack uses site-specific historical weather and energy production data, in combination with machine learning algorithms, to identify the optimal position for a solar array in real time to increase its energy production.
Product Roadmap
Our products reflect the innovation focus and engineering capabilities of our people. Our product roadmap is rooted in delivering value to the customer, differentiated products and services and new market creation.
We have introduced three generations of trackers and each new version has delivered significant cost and performance improvements over the prior version. We are currently developing the fourth version of the DuraTrack system which will focus on improvements to performance, reliability and cost of ownership.
We are also planning to introduce improvements and additional functionality to our SmarTrack software, including unique positioning algorithms designed to maximize energy production from arrays that use bi-facial panels, pre-positioning instructions based on weather forecasts and enhanced site-specific machine learning capabilities as well as cybersecurity enhancements.
Sales and Marketing Strategy
Our sales and marketing strategy is to educate all influencers and stakeholders involved in building, owning and maintaining a solar energy project on the merits of our products generally and their low lifetime cost of ownership specifically. With the objective of making DuraTrack the preferred tracker system globally, we educate customers and influencers through a combination of direct sales efforts; commissioning independent, third-party studies; hosting training seminars; and sponsoring industry conferences and events.
We take a “360-degree” approach to selling, working with developers, independent power producers, EPCs, utilities, independent engineering firms, insurers and mechanical subcontractors in each of the countries where we operate. In the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”), Latin America and Australia our products are actively sold by employees in seven different countries.
Our Customers
We sell our products to EPCs that build solar energy projects and to large solar developers, independent power producers and utilities, often under master supply agreements or multi-year procurement contracts. Although sales to a single customer may occasionally be greater than 10%, they generally represent multiple projects for many different end customers who often directly influence or make the decision to use our products. In 2020, our two largest customers, Lightsource Renewable Energy US, LLC and Blattner Energy
Inc., an independent power producer and an EPC, represented approximately 21.5% of our revenue and were the only customers constituting greater than 10% of total revenue. In 2020, we derived 92% and 8% of our revenues from customers in the U.S. and rest of the world, respectively.
Training and Customer Support
We offer our customers engineering expertise to design and deliver the optimal solution for each unique project, installation training services and dedicated project management to provide comprehensive technical support.
We offer a wide variety of training and support designed to ensure an efficient build process of our tracker system, including hands on and video supported instruction and documentation. We support all of our customers with design consulting throughout the sales process. Our technical support organization includes applications engineering, geotechnical and civil engineering in each region where we operate. To support projects around the globe, we have resources available to work on solutions 24/7. We manage open issues via our customer relationship management system in order to monitor service, track closure of all customer issues and further improve our customer service in every region in which we sell our products.
Customer service and satisfaction are a key focus for us and contribute to our success. 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. Our customer support and training organization consists of approximately 25 full time employees worldwide.
Manufacturing
We operate a fifty-seven thousand square feet manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Our manufacturing process is designed to meet four objectives: limit capital intensive and low value-added activities that can be outsourced to other companies; minimize labor content where possible; minimize the amount of assembly our customers will be required to do at the site; and minimize material movement both from vendors to us and inside our factory.
We produce module clamps, center structures, spring dampers and motor controller assemblies at our Albuquerque facility. We have entered outsourcing contracts for steel tubing, drivelines, bearing assemblies and gear boxes that ship directly from our suppliers to job sites or designated warehouses. By using vendors, we are able to drop ship products directly to our customers sites, which improves working capital turnover, quality and inventory management.
While we maintain certain levels of supplies and inventories, have the capability to in source some of the products manufactured by outside vendors to our principal manufacturing facility and have identified alternative vendors for contingency purposes, we depend upon a small number of vendors to manufacture certain components used in our products. We have implemented a policy that no component be single-sourced and that second-source suppliers be located domestically where possible.
We believe our status as a U.S. company with U.S. manufacturing reduces the potential impact of U.S. government tariffs placed on, or other U.S. government regulatory actions taken against, products manufactured in foreign countries.
Research and Development
We continually devote resources to research and development (“R&D”) with the objective of developing innovative new products and services that enhance system performance, improve product reliability, reduce product cost and simplify installation. Our development strategy is to identify features that bring value to our customers and differentiate us from our competitors. We measure the effectiveness of our R&D using a number of metrics, beginning with a market requirements definition, which includes a program budget, financial payback, resource requirements, and time required to launch the new product, system, or service into the market. We employ a stringent engineering phase gate review process that ensures all R&D programs are meeting their stated objectives from inception to deployment.
We have a strong R&D team with significant experience in solar energy as well as expertise in mechanical engineering, software engineering, civil engineering, systems/control engineering, power electronics, semiconductors, power line communications and networking. As needed, we collaborate with academia, national laboratories, and consultants, to further enhance our capabilities and confirm results independently. As of December 31, 2020, we had 46 people in our engineering department.
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 secret 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, we had two U.S. trademark registrations, nine issued U.S. patents, 108 issued non-U.S. patents, twelve patent applications pending for examination in the U.S., thirteen U.S. provisional patent applications pending, at least 100 patent applications pending for examination in other countries and eight domain name registrations, all of which are related to U.S. applications. Many of our patents relate to mounting assemblies, solar trackers and related methods. Our U.S. issued patents are scheduled to expire between 2030 and 2037.
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.
Our policy is for our research and development employees to enter into confidentiality and proprietary information agreements with us to 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. However, we might not have entered into such agreements with all applicable personnel, and such agreements might not be self-executing. Moreover, such individuals could breach the terms of such agreements.
We also require our customers and business partners to enter into confidentiality agreements
before we disclose any sensitive aspects of our technology or business plans.
ITC for Solar Projects
The most significant incentive program to our business is the federal investment tax credit (“ITC”) for solar energy projects. The ITC was originally enacted in 2005, and was most recently extended in December 2020 under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The ITC is worth a percentage of a solar project owner’s cost basis in the asset. The ITC percentage varies depending on the year in which the solar project is deemed to
begin construction under U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) rules. In general, the IRS rules provide that construction begins in the year in which a taxpayer performs physical work of a significant nature or pays or incurs at least 5% of the total cost of the solar energy project (the “Safe Harbor”). A common strategy that our customers use to satisfy the Safe Harbor is to make a single large payment for equipment with the expectation of delivery within three and half months after the payment date. The ITC is worth 26% of cost for projects that begin construction before 2023. Projects that begin construction in 2023 or later are subject to the phase down schedule described below.
Seasonality
Our revenue is impacted by seasonality related to ITC step-downs and construction activity.
ITC step-downs. While solar power is cost-competitive with conventional forms of generation in many states without the ITC, we believe step-downs in the ITC have influenced, and will continue to influence, the timing and quantity of some customer’s orders. For example, during the fourth quarter of 2019, we received approximately $400 million of orders that were structured to maintain our customers’ eligibility for the 30% ITC that is available for projects for which construction began before 2020. We shipped and recorded the associated revenues on approximately $100 million and $300 million of those orders in the fourth quarter of 2019 and first half of 2020, respectively. While we cannot predict our customers’ behavior, we expect the pattern of some customers placing large orders in the fourth quarter with the majority of shipments occurring during the first half of the next calendar year will continue to occur in years preceding an ITC step-down. The current 26% ITC phases down to 22% for projects that begin construction in 2023, and then phases down to a permanent 10% level for projects that begin construction in 2024 or later.
Construction activity. Project construction activity in North America is lower in colder months. The installation of a solar tracker requires setting foundations in the ground which is more costly when the ground is frozen. Accordingly, we typically expect to see higher revenues in the second and third quarters when the weather is warmer in North America and lower in the first and fourth quarters when the weather is colder absent other factors. While we expect this seasonality will continue to impact us in the near term as a large portion of our business is in North America, we expect to see less pronounced seasonal variations as we expand into new global markets in the southern hemisphere.
Competition
Trackers are highly specialized products that are specific to the solar industry. The unique expertise required to design trackers and customers’ reluctance to try unproven products has confined the number of firms that produce trackers to a relatively small number. Our principal tracker competitors include NEXTracker Inc., a subsidiary of Flex Ltd., PV Hardware and Artech Solar. We also compete indirectly with manufacturers of fixed tilt mounting systems, including UNIRAC, Inc., and RBI Solar Inc., a subsidiary of Gibraltar Industries, Inc. We compete on the basis of product performance and features, total cost of ownership (usually measured by LCOE), reliability and duration of product warranty, sales and distribution capabilities, and training and customer support.
Employees
As of December 31, 2020, we had 389 full-time employees. 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.
Environmental Laws and Regulations
We are subject to a variety of environmental, health and safety, and pollution-control laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate. We do not believe the costs of compliance with these laws and regulations will be material to the business or our operations. We use, handle, generate, store, discharge and dispose of hazardous substances, chemicals and wastes at some of our facilities in connection with our product development, testing and manufacturing activities. Any failure by us to control the use of, to remediate the presence of or to restrict adequately the discharge of such substances, chemicals or wastes could subject us to potentially significant liabilities, clean-up costs, monetary damages and fines or suspensions in our business operations. In addition, some of our facilities are located on properties with a history of use involving hazardous substances, chemicals and wastes and may be contaminated. Although we have not incurred, and do not currently anticipate, any material liabilities in connection with such contamination, we may be required to make expenditures for environmental remediation in the future.
Government Incentives
Federal, state, local and foreign government bodies provide incentives to owners, end users, distributors and manufacturers of solar energy systems to promote solar electricity in the form of rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives such as system performance payments, payments for renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy generation, and an exclusion of solar energy systems from property tax assessments. The range and duration of these incentives varies widely by geographic market. The market for grid-connected applications, where solar power is sold into organized electric markets or pursuant to power purchase agreements, often depends in large part on the availability and size of these government subsidies and economic incentives. The following is a summary of the major current government subsidies and economic incentives in the key jurisdictions where our customers operate.
United States
The U.S. federal government provides an ITC that allows a taxpayer to offset its federal income tax liability by a percentage of its cost basis in a solar energy system put to commercial use. The value of the tax credit varies depending on the year in which construction is deemed to begin. Under the current legislative framework, solar projects that were under construction by the end of 2019 qualify for a tax credit equal to 30% of the project’s cost. The value drops to 26% for projects starting construction in 2020 through 2022, and 22% for projects starting construction in 2023. The credit drops to a permanent 10% level for projects that begin construction in 2024 or later. Projects that begin construction before 2024, but are not placed in service until 2026 or later, are also limited to the 10% credit.
The federal government also permits accelerated depreciation, and in some cases 100% “bonus” depreciation, for certain equipment, including solar energy systems. In addition, some U.S. states offer an additional corporate investment or production tax credit for solar that is additive to the ITC. Additionally, many U.S. states and local jurisdictions have established various property tax abatement incentives for renewable energy systems.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors
You should consider carefully the risks described below, as well as the other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before deciding whether to purchase, hold or sell shares of our common stock. The occurrence of any of the following risks could harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and/or growth prospects or cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements we have made in this report and those we may make from time to time. You should consider all of the factors described as well as the other information in the 10-K, including our financial statements and the related notes
and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” when evaluating our business. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business, financial condition, results of operations and future growth prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In these circumstances, the market price of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investments. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial also may impair our business operations.
Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry
Risks Related to Demand for our Products
If demand for solar energy projects does not continue to grow or grows at a slower rate than we anticipate, our business will suffer.
Our solution is utilized in large-scale ground-mounted solar energy projects. As a result, our future success depends on continued demand for solar energy solutions and the ability of solar equipment 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 and businesses will adopt solar energy as an alternative energy source at levels sufficient to grow our business. If demand for solar energy 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.
The viability and demand for solar energy and the demand for our products are impacted by many factors outside of our control, which makes it difficult to predict our future prospects.
The viability and demand for solar energy, and in turn, our products, may be affected by many factors outside of our control. While we have been in existence since 1989, we have recently grown and expanded significantly. Our recent significant growth and expansion, combined with the rapidly evolving and competitive nature of our industry, makes it difficult to predict our future prospects. We have limited insight into emerging trends that may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. 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. Some of the factors outside of our control which may impact the viability and demand for solar energy include:
•cost competitiveness, reliability and performance of solar energy systems compared to conventional and non-solar renewable energy sources and products and cost competitiveness, reliability and performance of our products compared to our competitors;
•availability and scale and scope of government subsidies and incentives to support the development and deployment of solar energy solutions;
•prices of traditional carbon-based energy sources;
•levels of investment by end-users of solar energy products, which tend to decrease when economic growth slows;
•the emergence, continuance or success of, or increased government support for, other alternative energy generation technologies and products; and
•if we do not manage these risks and overcome these difficulties successfully, our business will suffer.
A loss of one or more of our significant customers, their inability to perform under their contracts, or their default in payment, could harm our business and negatively impact revenue, results of operations, and cash flow.
We are dependent on a relatively small number of customers for our sales, and a small number of customers have historically accounted for a material portion of our revenue. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company’s largest customer and five largest customers constituted 11.2% and 40.9% of our total revenues, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2020, two customers (Lightsource Renewable Energy US, LLC and Blattner Energy, Inc.), constituted more than 10% of total revenue. The loss of any one of the Company’s significant customers, their inability to perform under their contracts, or their default in payment, could have a materially adverse effect on the revenues and profits of the Company. Further, the Company’s trade accounts receivable are from companies within the solar industry, and, as such, the Company is exposed to normal industry credit risks. As of December 31, 2020, the Company’s largest customer and five largest customers constituted 0.1% and 20.9% of trade accounts receivable, respectively. For the near future, we may continue to derive a significant portion of our net sales from a small number of customers. Accordingly, loss of a significant customer or a significant reduction in pricing or order volume from a significant customer could materially reduce net sales and operating results in any reporting period.
A drop in the price of electricity sold may harm our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Decreases in the price of electricity, whether in organized electric markets or with contract counterparties, may negatively impact the owners of the solar energy projects or make the purchase of solar energy systems less economically attractive and would likely lower sales of our products. The price of electricity could decrease as a result of:
•construction of a significant number of new, lower-cost power generation plants, including plants utilizing natural gas, renewable energy or other generation technologies;
•relief of transmission constraints that enable distant, lower-cost generation to transmit energy less expensively or in greater quantities;
•reductions in the price of natural gas or other fuels;
•utility rate adjustment and customer class cost reallocation;
•decreased electricity demand, including from energy conservation technologies and public initiatives to reduce electricity consumption;
•development of smart-grid technologies that lower the peak energy requirements;
•development of new or lower-cost customer-sited energy storage technologies that have the ability to reduce a customer’s average cost of electricity by shifting load to off-peak times; and
•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 energy installations incorporating our systems is high relative to the cost of electricity from other sources, then our business, financial condition and results of operations may be harmed.
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, shipment delays, rejection of our products, damage to our reputation, lost revenue, diversion of our engineering 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. 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, including as a result of product malfunctions, defects or improper installation, 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, and may have an adverse effect on our ability to attract new customers, thus harming our growth and financial performance.
Our results of operations may fluctuate from quarter to quarter, which could make our future performance difficult to predict and could cause our results of operations for a particular period to fall below expectations, resulting in a decline in the price of our common stock.
Our quarterly results of operations are difficult to predict and may fluctuate significantly in the future. We have experienced seasonal and quarterly fluctuations in the past as a result of seasonal fluctuations in our customers’ business. Our end-users’ ability to install solar energy systems is affected by weather, as for example during the winter months in Europe and the northeastern U.S. Such installation delays can impact the timing of orders for our products. Further, given that we are an early-stage company operating in a rapidly growing industry, the true extent of these fluctuations may have been masked by our recent growth rates and consequently may not be readily apparent from our historical results of operations and may be difficult to predict. Our financial performance, sales, working capital requirements and cash flow may fluctuate, and our past quarterly results of operations may not be good indicators of future performance. Any substantial decrease in revenues would have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, cash flows and stock price.
An increase in interest rates, or a reduction in the availability of tax equity or project debt capital in the global financial markets could make it difficult for end customers to finance the cost of a solar energy system and could reduce the demand for our products.
Many end-users depend on financing to fund the initial capital expenditure required to construct a solar energy project. As a result, an increase in interest rates, or a reduction in the supply of project debt or tax equity financing, could reduce the number of solar projects that receive financing or otherwise make it difficult for our customers or their customers to secure the financing necessary to construct a solar energy project 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 construct solar energy projects as an investment, funding a significant portion of the initial capital expenditure with financing from third parties. An increase in interest rates could lower an investor’s return on investment on a solar energy project, increase equity requirements or make alternative investments more attractive relative to solar energy projects, and, in each case, could cause these end-users to seek alternative investments.
Developments in alternative technologies may have a material adverse effect on demand for our offerings.
Significant developments in alternative technologies, such as advances in other forms of solar tracking systems 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.
Risk Related to the Regulatory Environment
Existing electric utility industry policies and regulations, and any subsequent changes, may present technical, regulatory and economic barriers to the purchase and use of solar energy 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 broader electric utility industry, as well as internal policies and regulations promulgated by electric utilities and organized electric markets with respect to fees, practices, and rate design, heavily influence the market for electricity generation products and services. These regulations and policies often affect electricity pricing and the interconnection of generation facilities, and can be subject to frequent modifications by governments, regulatory bodies, utilities and market operators. For example, changes in fee structures, electricity pricing structures, and system permitting, interconnection and operating requirements can deter purchases of renewable energy products, including solar energy systems, by reducing anticipated revenues or increasing costs or regulatory burdens for would-be system purchasers. The resulting reductions in demand for solar energy systems could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
A significant recent development in renewable-energy pricing policies in the U.S. occurred on December 31, 2020, when a final rule amending the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) regulations that implement the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (“PURPA”) became effective. Among other requirements, PURPA mandates that electric utilities buy the output of certain renewable generators, including qualifying solar energy facilities, below established capacity thresholds. PURPA also requires that such sales occur at a utility’s “avoided cost” rate. FERC’s PURPA reforms include modifications (1) to how regulators and electric utilities may establish avoided cost rates for new contracts, (2) that reduce from 20 MW to 5 MW the capacity threshold above which a renewable-energy qualifying facility is rebuttably presumed to have non-discriminatory market access, thereby removing the requirement for utilities to purchase its output, (3) that require regulators to establish criteria for determining when an electric utility incurs a legally enforceable obligation to purchase from a PURPA qualifying facility, and (4) that reduce barriers for third parties to challenge PURPA eligibility. The net effect of these changes is uncertain, as they have only been effective for a short time, and some changes
will not become fully effective until states and other jurisdictions implement the new authorities provided by FERC. In general, however, FERC’s PURPA reforms have the potential to reduce prices for the output from certain new renewable generation projects while also narrowing the scope of PURPA eligibility for new projects. These effects could reduce demand for PURPA-eligible solar energy systems and could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.
Changes in other current laws or regulations applicable to us or the imposition of new laws, regulations or policies 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, utility or electric market regulations or policies that favor electric utilities, non-solar generation, or other market participants, or that make construction or operation of new solar generation facilities more expensive or difficult, could reduce the competitiveness of solar energy systems and cause a significant reduction in demand for our products and services and adversely impact our growth. 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.
The interruption of the flow of components and materials from international vendors could disrupt our supply chain, including as a result of the imposition of additional duties, tariffs and other charges on imports and exports.
We purchase some of our components and materials outside of the United States through arrangements with various vendors. Political, social or economic instability in these regions, or in other regions where our products are made, could cause disruptions in trade, including exports to the United States. Actions in various countries, particularly China and the United States, have created uncertainty with respect to tariff impacts on the costs of some of our components and materials. The degree of our exposure is dependent on (among other things) the type of materials, rates imposed, and timing of the tariffs. Other events that could also cause disruptions to our supply chain include:
•the imposition of additional trade law provisions or regulations;
•the imposition of additional duties, tariffs and other charges on imports and exports, including as a result of the escalating trade war between China and the United States;
•the potential imposition of restrictions on our acquisition, importation, or installation of equipment under future U.S. regulations, if any, implementing the temporarily suspended Executive Order on Securing the United States Bulk-Power System, any successor order, or other subsequently imposed administrative or legislative requirements;
•quotas imposed by bilateral trade agreements;
•foreign currency fluctuations;
•natural disasters;
•public health issues and epidemic diseases, their effects (including any disruptions they may cause) or the perception of their effects, such as the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak originating in China;
•theft;
•restrictions on the transfer of funds;
•the financial instability or bankruptcy of vendors; and
•significant labor disputes, such as dock strikes.
We cannot predict whether the countries in which our components and materials are sourced, or may be sourced in the future, will be subject to new or additional trade restrictions imposed by the United States or other foreign governments, including the likelihood, type or effect of any such restrictions. Trade restrictions, including new or increased tariffs or quotas, border taxes, embargoes, safeguards and customs restrictions
against certain components and materials, as well as labor strikes and work stoppages or boycotts, could increase the cost or reduce or delay the supply of components and materials available to us and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Changes in the U.S. trade environment, including the imposition of import tariffs, could adversely affect the amount or timing of our revenues, results of operations or cash flows.
Escalating trade tensions, particularly between the United States and China, have led to increased tariffs and trade restrictions, including tariffs applicable to certain materials and components for our products or for products used in solar energy projects more broadly, such as module supply and availability. More specifically, in March 2018, the United States imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and has imposed additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. To the extent we continue to use overseas suppliers of steel and aluminum, these tariffs could result in interruptions in the supply chain and impact costs and our gross margins. Additionally, in January 2018, the United States adopted a tariff on imported solar modules and cells pursuant to Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974. The tariff was initially set at 30%, with a gradual reduction over four years to 15%. While this tariff does not apply directly to the components we import, it may indirectly affect us by impacting the financial viability of solar energy projects, which could in turn reduce demand for our products. Furthermore, in July 2018, the United States adopted a 10% tariff on a long list of products imported from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, including, inverters and power optimizers, which became effective on September 24, 2018. In June 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative increased the rate of such tariffs from 10% to 25%. While these tariffs are not directly applicable to our products, they could impact the solar energy projects in which our products are used, which could lead to decreased demand for our products. The Biden Administration has not yet indicated whether it will remove or alter any of the aforementioned tariffs.
On January 15, 2020, the United States and China entered into an initial trade deal that preserves the bulk of the tariffs placed in 2018 and maintains a threat of additional tariffs should China breach the terms of the deal.
Tariffs and the possibility of additional tariffs in the future have created uncertainty in the industry. If the price of solar systems in the United States increases, the use of solar systems could become less economically feasible and could reduce our gross margins or reduce the demand of solar systems manufactured and sold, which in turn may decrease demand for our products. Additionally, existing or future tariffs may negatively affect key customers, suppliers, and manufacturing partners. Such outcomes could adversely affect the amount or timing of our revenues, results of operations or cash flows, and continuing uncertainty could cause sales volatility, price fluctuations or supply shortages or cause our customers to advance or delay their purchase of our products. It is difficult to predict what further trade-related actions governments may take, which may include additional or increased tariffs and trade restrictions, and we may be unable to quickly and effectively react to such actions.
The reduction, elimination or expiration of government incentives for, or regulations mandating the use of, renewable energy and solar energy specifically could reduce demand for solar energy systems and harm our business.
Federal, state, local and foreign government bodies provide incentives to owners, end users, distributors, system integrators and manufacturers of solar energy systems to promote solar electricity in the form of rebates, tax credits and other financial incentives such as system performance payments, payments of renewable energy credits associated with renewable energy generation, and an exclusion of solar energy systems from property tax assessments.
For example, the solar ITC provides a federal income tax credit for owners of commercial solar projects that is equal to a percentage of the applicable projects’ cost. The ITC was originally enacted by Congress in 2005, and was most recently extended in 2020. Under the current text of the legislation, the tax credit phases down from its current 26% level to 22% for projects that begin construction in 2023, and then down to 10% for projects that begin construction in 2024 or later.
The range and duration of these incentives varies widely by jurisdiction. Our customers typically use our systems for grid-connected applications wherein solar power is sold under a power purchase agreement or into an organized electric market. This segment of the solar industry has historically depended in large part on the availability and size of government incentives and regulations mandating the use of renewable energy. Consequently, the reduction, elimination or expiration of government incentives for grid-connected solar electricity or regulations mandating the use of renewable energy may negatively affect the competitiveness of solar electricity relative to conventional and non-solar renewable sources of electricity, and could harm or halt the growth of the solar electricity industry and our business. These subsidies and incentives may expire on a particular date, end when the allocated funding is exhausted or be reduced or terminated as solar energy adoption rates increase or as a result of legal challenges, the adoption of new statutes or regulations, or the passage of time. These reductions or terminations may occur without warning.
In addition, federal, state, local and foreign government bodies have implemented various policies that are intended to promote renewable electricity generally or solar electricity in particular. Chief among these policies is the renewable portfolio standard (“RPS). Currently, 30 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and 3 U.S. territories have implemented some form of RPS, which mandates that a certain portion of electricity delivered by regulated utilities to customers come from a set of eligible renewable energy resources by a certain compliance date. RPSs vary widely by jurisdiction. In some areas, requirements have been satisfied and utilities must only prevent reductions in qualifying energy purchases and sales, while other jurisdictions’ RPSs continue to require substantial increases, up to 100 percent renewable electric generation, with final compliance dates typically 20 or more years out.
While the recent trend has been for jurisdictions with RPSs to maintain or expand them, there have been certain exceptions and there can be no assurances that RPSs or other policies supporting renewable energy will continue. Proposals to extend compliance deadlines, reduce renewable requirements or solar set-asides, or entirely repeal RPSs emerge from time to time in various jurisdictions. Reduction or elimination of RPSs, as well as changes to other renewable-energy and solar-energy policies, could reduce the potential growth of the solar energy industry and our business.
Moreover, policies of the U.S. presidential administration may create regulatory uncertainty in the renewable energy industry, including the solar energy industry, and adversely affect our business. For example, in June 2017, the U.S. President announced that the United States would withdraw from participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation. The United States formally announced its intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on November 4, 2019, which withdrawal took effect in November 4, 2020. Following the change of presidential administration on January 20, 2021, the U.S. President issued written notification to the United Nations of the United States’ intention to rejoin the Paris Agreement, which became effective on February 19, 2021. Further, on June 19, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued the final Affordable Clean Energy (“ACE”) rule and repealed the 2015 Clean Power Plan (“CPP”). Under the ACE rule, emissions from electric utility generation facilities would be regulated only through the use of various “inside the fence” or onsite efficiency improvements and emission control technologies. In contrast, the CPP allowed facility owners to reduce emissions with “outside the fence” measures, including those associated with renewable energy projects. On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the ACE rule and remanded it to the EPA. On February 12, 2021, EPA issued a memo stating that the agency would not reinstate the CPP; therefore, the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector is uncertain at this time.
Finally, the solar industry has in past years experienced periodic downturns due to, among other things, changes in subsidies and incentives, as well as other policies and regulations, which, as noted above, may affect the demand for equipment that we manufacture. Although the solar industry has recovered from these downturns, 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.
Changes in tax laws or regulations that are applied adversely to us or our customers could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Tax laws continually change as new laws are passed and new interpretations of the law are issued or applied. For example, in December 2017, the U.S. government enacted Public Law No. 115-97 (the “TCJA”), resulting in various changes to U.S. tax laws, including, among other things, changes to U.S. federal tax rates (including a reduction of the U.S. corporate tax rate), changes to the rules governing the carryback and carryforward of net operating losses, significant additional limitations on the deductibility of interest, and changes to the rules governing the expensing of capital expenditures.
More recently, in March 2020, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the "FFCR Act"), and in March 2020, the CARES Act were each enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The FFCR Act and the CARES Act contain several provisions related to income tax, such as provisions relaxing limitations on the deductibility of interest and the use of net operating losses arising in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. Additionally, in December 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 was enacted, which expands upon the relief provided in the CARES Act and the FFCR Act and includes additional tax-related provisions. We continue to evaluate the impact of the foregoing legislation on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, and cash flows. Future guidance under the FFCR Act, the CARES Act, and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (as well as under the TCJA) may be forthcoming, and such guidance could ultimately increase or decrease the impact that such Acts have on our business and financial condition. It is possible that Congress will enact additional legislation in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which could have an impact on us.
Changes like the ones discussed above and other changes to tax laws, such as changes in corporate tax rates, tax incentives for renewable energy projects, the realization of net deferred tax assets relating to our U.S. operations, the taxation of foreign earnings, and the deductibility of expenses under future tax reform legislation could have a material impact on the value of our deferred tax assets, could result in significant one-time charges in the current or future taxable years, and could increase our future U.S. tax expense, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
We could be adversely affected by any violations of the FCPA, the U.K. Bribery Act and other foreign anti-bribery laws.
The FCPA generally prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign government officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Other countries in which we operate also have anti-bribery laws, some of which prohibit improper payments to government and non-government persons and entities. Our policies mandate compliance with these anti-bribery laws. However, we currently operate in and intend to further expand into, many parts of the world that have experienced governmental corruption to some degree and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. In addition, due to the level of regulation in our industry, our entry into certain jurisdictions requires substantial government contact where norms can differ from U.S. standards. It is possible that our employees, subcontractors, agents and partners may take actions in violation of our policies and anti-
bribery laws. Any such violation, even if prohibited by our policies, could subject us to criminal or civil penalties or other sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and reputation.
Risks Related to Intellectual Property
If we fail to, or incur significant costs in order to, obtain, maintain, protect, defend or enforce, 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, to establish and protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. Such means may afford only limited protection of our intellectual property and may not (i) prevent our competitors from duplicating our processes or technology; (ii) prevent our competitors from gaining access to our proprietary information and technology; or (iii) permit us to gain or maintain a competitive advantage.
We generally seek or apply for patent protection as and if we deem appropriate, based on then-current facts and circumstances. We have applied for patents in numerous countries across the world, including in the United States, Europe, and China, some of which have been issued. We cannot guarantee that any of our pending patent applications or other applications for intellectual property registrations will be issued or granted or that our existing and future intellectual property rights will be sufficiently broad to protect our proprietary technology. While a presumption of validity exists with respect to United States patents issued to us, there can be no assurance that any of our patents, patent applications, or other intellectual property rights will not be, in whole or in part, opposed, contested, challenged, invalidated, circumvented, designed around, or rendered unenforceable. If we fail to obtain issuance of patents or registration of other intellectual property, or our patent claims or other intellectual property rights are rendered invalid or unenforceable, or narrowed in scope, pursuant to, for example, judicial or administrative proceedings including re-examination, post-grant review, interference, opposition, or derivation proceedings, the coverage of patents and other intellectual property rights afforded our products could be impaired. Even if we are to obtain issuance of further patents or registration of other intellectual property, such intellectual property could be subjected to attacks on ownership, validity, enforceability, or other legal attacks. Any such impairment or other failure to obtain sufficient intellectual property protection could impede our ability to market our products, negatively affect our competitive position and harm our business and operating results, including forcing us to, among other things, rebrand or re-design our affected products. Moreover, our patents and patent applications may only cover particular aspects of our products, and competitors and other third parties may be able to circumvent or design around our patents. Competitors may develop and obtain patent protection for more effective technologies, designs or methods. There can be no assurance that third parties will not create new products or methods that achieve similar or better results without infringing upon patents we own. If these developments were to occur, it could have an adverse effect on our sales or market position.
In countries where we have not applied for patent protection or trademark or other intellectual property registration or where effective patent, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property laws and judicial systems may not be available to the same extent as in the United States, we may be at greater risk that our proprietary rights will be circumvented, misappropriated, infringed, or otherwise violated. Filing, prosecuting, maintaining, and defending our intellectual property in all countries throughout the world may be prohibitively expensive, and we may choose to forego such activities in some applicable jurisdictions. The lack of adequate legal protections of intellectual property or failure of legal remedies or related actions in jurisdictions outside of
the United States could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and prospects.
We have initiated, and may in the future need to initiate infringement claims or litigation in order to try to protect or enforce our intellectual property rights. For instance, we have brought an action against a competitor in connection with misappropriation of trade secrets that remains pending (see Item 3. Legal Proceedings). Litigation, whether we are a plaintiff or a defendant, can be expensive and time-consuming and may divert the efforts of our management and other personnel, which could harm our business, whether or not such litigation results in a determination favorable to us. Litigation also puts our patents or other intellectual property at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly and our patent applications or applications for other intellectual property registrations at risk of not issuing. Additionally, any enforcement of our patents or other intellectual property may provoke third parties to assert counterclaims against us. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We may need to defend ourselves against third-party claims that we are infringing, misappropriating or otherwise violating others’ 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, and may hold or obtain patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights that could prevent, limit, or interfere with our ability to make, use, develop, sell or market our products and services, which could make it more difficult for us to operate our business. From time to time we may be subject to claims of infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of patents or other intellectual property rights and related litigation, and, if we gain greater recognition in the market, we face a higher risk of being the subject of these types of claims. Regardless of their merit, responding to such claims can be time consuming, can divert management’s attention and resources, and may cause us to incur significant expenses in litigation or settlement, and we cannot be certain that we would be successful in defending against any such claims in litigation or other proceedings. 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, and from making, selling or incorporating certain components or intellectual property into the products and services we offer. As a result, we could be forced to redesign our products and services, and/or to establish and maintain alternative branding for our products and services. To avoid litigation or being prohibited from marketing or selling the relevant products or services, we could seek a license from the applicable third party, which could require us to pay significant royalties, licensing fees, or other payments, 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 be infeasible or require significant effort and expense. If we cannot license or develop a non-violating alternative, we would be forced to limit or stop sales of our offerings and may be unable to effectively compete. Moreover, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Any of these results would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Finally, any litigation or claims, whether or not valid, could result in substantial costs, negative publicity and diversion of resources and management attention, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Risks Related to Growth and Operations
If we fail to manage our recent 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. 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, IT 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 a cost-effective and 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.
We depend upon a number of outside vendors. Our operations could be disrupted if we encounter problems with these vendors.
While we manufacture products at our principal manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we depend upon a number of vendors to manufacture certain components used in our products. Our reliance on these vendors makes us vulnerable to possible capacity constraints and reduced control over component availability, delivery schedules, manufacturing yields and costs.
If any of our vendors were unable or unwilling to manufacture the components that we require for our products in sufficient volumes and at high quality levels or renew existing terms under supply agreements, we would have to manufacture at our principal manufacturing facility the components manufactured by our vendors or identify, qualify and select acceptable alternative vendors, if not already multi-sourced. Manufacturing at our principal manufacturing facility the components manufactured by our vendors may lower our cost efficiency, and an alternative vendor 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, including price. 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 and damage our reputation with local installers and potential end-users and cause us to forego potential revenue opportunities.
We may incur obligations, liabilities or costs under environmental, health and safety laws, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our operations involve the use, handling, generation, storage, discharge and disposal of hazardous substances, chemicals and wastes. As a result, we are required to comply with national, state, local, and foreign laws and regulations regarding the protection of the environment and health and safety. Adoption of more stringent laws and regulations in the future could require us to incur substantial costs to come into compliance with these laws and regulations. In addition, violations of, or liabilities under, these laws and regulations may result in restrictions being imposed on our operating activities or in our being subject to
adverse publicity, substantial fines, penalties, criminal proceedings, third-party property damage or personal injury claims, cleanup costs, or other costs. We may become liable under certain of these laws and regulations for costs to investigate or remediate contamination at properties we own or operate, we formerly owned or operated or to which hazardous substances were sent by us for disposal. Liability under these laws and regulations can be imposed on a joint and several basis and without regard to fault or the legality of the activities giving rise to the contamination conditions. In addition, future developments such as more aggressive enforcement policies or the discovery of presently unknown environmental conditions may require expenditures that could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are required to make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement (“TRA”) if and when cash tax savings are realized, and the amounts of such payments could be significant.
Concurrent with Former Parent’s acquisition of Array Technologies Patent Holdings Co., LLC. (“Patent LLC”), Array Tech, Inc. (f/k/a Array Technologies, Inc.) entered into the TRA with Ron P. Corio, our indirect stockholder. The TRA requires that Array Tech, Inc. (f/k/a Array Technologies, Inc.) pay Ron P. Corio for a portion of certain federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax benefits that we actually realize (or are deemed to realize in certain circumstances) in taxable periods following Former Parent’s acquisition of the Patent LLC. These payments are obligations if and when cash tax savings are realized. The TRA will continue until all tax benefit payments have been made or we elect early termination under the terms described in the TRA (or the TRA is otherwise terminated pursuant to its terms).
Estimating the amount of payments that may be made under the TRA is by nature imprecise; however, these payments could be significant. We estimate that, as of December 31, 2020, the undiscounted future expected payments under the TRA are $25.3 million. In addition, in certain cases, payments under the TRA may be accelerated and/or significantly exceed the actual benefits, if any, we realize in respect of the tax attributes subject to the TRA. Moreover, we will not be reimbursed for any payments made under the TRA in the event that any tax benefits are subsequently disallowed.
Further, our payment obligations under the TRA are not conditioned upon Ron P. Corio having a continued interest in us or our subsidiaries. Accordingly, Ron P. Corio’s interests may conflict with those of the holders of our common stock.
Significant changes in the cost of raw materials could adversely affect our financial performance.
We are subject to risk from fluctuating market prices of certain commodity raw materials, including steel and aluminum, that 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.
We are dependent on transportation and logistics providers to deliver our products in a cost efficient manner. Disruptions to transportation and logistics, including increases in shipping costs, could adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on transportation and logistics providers for the delivery of our products. We may also incur additional shipping costs when we need to accelerate delivery times. Our ability to deliver our products in a cost efficient manner 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 shipping facilities as a result of the
COVID-19 or other epidemics, and other factors not within our control. Disruptions to transportation and logistics, including increases in shipping costs, could adversely impact our financial condition and results of operations.
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. Such processes involve 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 researched, identified and properly addressed and 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 production and logistics costs and delays. Any of these developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Failure by our vendors or our component or raw material suppliers to use ethical business practices and comply with applicable laws and regulations may adversely affect our business.
We do not control our vendors or suppliers or their business practices. Accordingly, we cannot guarantee that they follow ethical business practices such as fair wage practices and compliance with environmental, safety and other local laws. A lack of demonstrated compliance could lead us to seek alternative manufacturers or suppliers, which could increase our costs and result in delayed delivery of our products, product shortages or other disruptions of our operations. Violation of labor or other laws by our manufacturers or suppliers or the divergence of a supplier’s labor or other practices from those generally accepted as ethical in the U.S. or other markets in which we do business could also attract negative publicity for us and harm our business.
If we fail to retain our key personnel or if we fail to attract additional qualified personnel, we may not be able to achieve our anticipated level of growth and our business could suffer.
Our future success and ability to implement our business strategy depends, in part, on our ability to attract and retain key personnel, and on the continued contributions of members of our senior management team and key technical personnel, each of whom would be difficult to replace. All of our employees, including our senior management, are free to terminate their employment relationships with us at any time. Competition for highly skilled individuals with technical expertise is extremely intense, and we face challenges identifying, hiring and retaining qualified personnel in many areas of our business. Integrating new employees into our team could prove disruptive to our operations, require substantial resources and management attention and ultimately prove unsuccessful. An inability to retain our senior management and other key personnel or to attract additional qualified personnel could limit or delay our strategic efforts, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Our planned expansion into new markets could subject us to additional business, financial, regulatory and competitive risks.
Our strategy is to grow our revenues outside of the U.S. by developing region-specific products; entering into joint-venture or licensing arrangements with companies in certain markets; expanding our relationships with value-added resellers of our products in some countries; and utilizing locally sourced components in our products in jurisdictions where locally sourced components are a regulatory or customer requirement.
Our strategy to grow our revenues outside of the U.S. includes North America, South America, Europe and Southeast Asia but currently excludes China. Our products and services to be offered in these regions may differ from our current products and services in several ways, such as the consumption and utilization of local raw materials, components and logistics, the re-engineering of select components to reduce costs, and region-specific customer training, site commissioning, warranty remediation and other technical services. We plan to implement this strategy in phases over the next approximately two years, beginning with the qualification of region-specific suppliers and vendors and followed by the design and qualification of region-specific components and products.
These markets 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 may 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 these new products successfully or to otherwise manage the risks and challenges associated with our potential expansion into new geographic markets could adversely affect our revenues and our ability to achieve or sustain profitability.
The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified board members and officers.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the listing requirements of Nasdaq, and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems and resources. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and results of operations and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. To maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, including becoming compliant with SOX 404, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business and results of operations. Although we have already hired additional employees in preparation for these heightened requirements, we may need to hire more employees in the future which would increase our costs and expenses.
Now that we are a public company, it has become more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance. We may, in the future, have to choose between reduced coverage or substantially higher costs to continue coverage. These factors could make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified executive officers and members of our board of directors, particularly to serve on our audit committee and compensation committee.
Risks Related to COVID-19
We face risks related to actual or threatened health epidemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and other outbreaks, which could significantly disrupt our manufacturing and operations.
Our business could be adversely impacted by the effects of a widespread outbreak of contagious disease, including the recent outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic first identified in Wuhan, China. Any widespread outbreak of contagious diseases, and other adverse public health developments, could cause disruption to, among other things, our ground operations at project sites, our manufacturing facilities and our suppliers and vendors located in the United States, India and elsewhere and have a material and adverse effect on our business operations. Our ground operations at project sites, our manufacturing facilities and our suppliers and vendors could be disrupted by worker absenteeism, quarantines, shortage of COVID-19 test kits and personal protection equipment for employees, office and factory closures, disruptions to ports and other shipping infrastructure, or other travel or health-related restrictions. If our ground operations at project sites, our manufacturing facilities and our suppliers or vendors are so affected, our supply chain, manufacturing and product shipments will be delayed, which could adversely affect our business, operations and customer relationships. For example, our suppliers and vendors in India have been affected by business closures and disruptions to ports and other shipping infrastructure. In addition, the macroeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and other markets has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected the economies and financial markets of many countries, resulting in an economic downturn that could affect demand for our products and impact our operating results.
Given the ongoing and dynamic nature of the circumstances, it is difficult to predict the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. The extent of such impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain, including when the COVID-19 pandemic can be controlled and abated. Further, while jurisdictions in which we operate have gradually allowed the reopening of businesses and other organizations and removed the sheltering restrictions, it is premature to assess whether doing so will result in a meaningful increase in economic activity and the impact of such actions on further COVID-19 cases.
We are monitoring the recent global health emergency driven by the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with global supply and demand dynamics. The extent to which these events may impact our business will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted at this time.
Although we have thus far avoided significant impact to performance of operations, and have not incurred, to date, liquidated damages due to delay, we have encountered and could encounter in future project delays due to impacts on suppliers, customers, or others. The duration and intensity of these impacts and resulting disruption to our operations is uncertain and continues to evolve as of the date of this filing. Accordingly, management will continue to monitor the impact of the global situation on its financial condition, liquidity, operations, suppliers, industry, and workforce.
To the extent the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our financial condition, operating results and cash flows, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those relating to our high level of indebtedness, our need to generate sufficient cash flows to service our indebtedness and our ability to comply with the covenants contained in the agreements that govern our indebtedness.
Risks Related to Information Technology
Failure to effectively utilize information technology systems or implement new technologies could disrupt our business or reduce our sales or profitability.
We rely extensively on various information technology systems, including data centers, hardware, software and applications to manage many aspects of our business, including to operate and provide our products and services, to process and record transactions, to enable effective communication systems, to track inventory flow, to manage logistics and to generate performance and financial reports. We are dependent on the integrity, security and consistent operations of these systems and related back-up systems. Our computer and information technology systems and the third-party systems we rely upon are also subject to damage or interruption from a number of causes, including power outages; computer and telecommunications failures; computer viruses, malware, phishing or distributed denial-of-service attacks; security breaches; cyber-attacks; catastrophic events such as fires, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes; acts of war or terrorism and design or usage errors by our employees or contractors.
Compromises, interruptions or shutdowns of our systems, including those managed by third parties, whether intentional or inadvertent, could lead to delays in our business operations and, if significant or extreme, affect our results of operations.
From time to time, our systems require modifications and updates, including by adding new hardware, software and applications; maintaining, updating or replacing legacy programs; and integrating new service providers, and adding enhanced or new functionality. Although we are actively selecting systems and vendors and implementing procedures to enable us to maintain the integrity of our systems when we modify them, there are inherent risks associated with modifying or replacing systems, and with new or changed relationships, including accurately capturing and maintaining data, realizing the expected benefit of the change and managing the potential disruption of the operation of the systems as the changes are implemented. Potential issues associated with implementation of these technology initiatives could reduce the efficiency of our operations in the short term. In addition, any interruption in the operation of our websites or systems could cause us to suffer reputational harm or to lose sales if customers are unable to access our site or purchase merchandise from us during such interruption. The efficient operation and successful growth of our business depends upon our information technology systems. The failure of our information technology systems and the third party systems we rely on to perform as designed, or our failure to implement and operate them effectively, could disrupt our business or subject us to liability and thereby have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Unauthorized disclosure of personal or sensitive data or confidential information, whether through a breach of our computer system or otherwise, could severely hurt our business.
Some aspects of our business involves the collection, receipt, use, storage, processing and transmission of personal information (of our customers’ and end users of our customers’ solar energy systems, including names, addresses, e-mail addresses, credit information, energy production statistics), consumer preferences as well as confidential information and personal data about our employees, our suppliers and us, some of which is entrusted to third-party service providers and vendors. We increasingly rely on commercially available systems, software, tools (including encryption technology) and monitoring to provide security and oversight for processing, transmission, storage and protection of confidential information and personal data. Despite the security measures we have in place, our facilities and systems, and those of third parties with which we do business, may be vulnerable to security breaches, acts of vandalism and theft, computer viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming and/or human errors, or other similar events, and there is no guarantee that inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure will not occur or that third parties will not gain unauthorized access to this type of confidential information and personal data.
Electronic security attacks designed to gain access to personal, sensitive or confidential information data by breaching mission critical systems of large organizations are constantly evolving, and high profile electronic
security breaches leading to unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or personal data have occurred recently at a number of major U.S. companies.
Attempts by computer hackers or other unauthorized third parties to penetrate or otherwise gain access to our computer systems or the systems of third parties with which we do business through fraud or other means of deceit, if successful, may result in the misappropriation of personal information, data, check information or confidential business information. Hardware, software or applications we utilize may contain defects in design or manufacture or other problems that could unexpectedly compromise information security. In addition, our employees, contractors or third parties with which we do business or to which we outsource business operations may attempt to circumvent our security measures in order to misappropriate such information and data, and may purposefully or inadvertently cause a breach or other compromise involving such information and data. Despite advances in security hardware, software, and encryption technologies, the methods and tools used to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems are constantly changing and evolving, and may be difficult to anticipate or detect for long periods of time. We are implementing and updating our processes and procedures to protect against unauthorized access to, or use of, secured data and to prevent data loss. However, the ever-evolving threats mean we and our third-party service providers and vendors must continually evaluate and adapt our respective systems, procedures, controls and processes, and there is no guarantee that they will be adequate to safeguard against all data security breaches, misappropriating of confidential information, or misuses of personal data. Moreover, 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.
Despite our precautions, an electronic security breach in our systems (or in the systems of third parties with which we do business) that results in the unauthorized release of personally identifiable information regarding customers, employees or other individuals or other sensitive data could nonetheless occur lead to serious disruption of our operations, financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business or potential liability, including possible punitive damages. As a result, 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.
In addition, as the regulatory environment relating to retailers and other companies’ obligation to protect such sensitive data becomes increasingly rigorous, with new and constantly changing requirements applicable to our business, compliance with those requirements could result in additional costs, and a material failure on our part to comply could subject us to fines or other regulatory sanctions and potentially to lawsuits. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Failure to comply with current or future federal, state and foreign laws and regulations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, advertising and consumer protection could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
We rely on a variety of marketing and advertising techniques and we are subject to various laws, regulations and industry standards that govern such marketing and advertising practices. A variety of federal, state and
foreign laws and regulations and certain industry standards govern the collection, use, processing retention, sharing and security of consumer data.
Laws, regulations and industry standards relating to privacy, data protection, marketing and advertising, and consumer protection are evolving and subject to potentially differing interpretations. These requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another or may conflict with other rules or our practices. As a result, our practices may not have complied or may not comply in the future with all such laws, regulations, standards, requirements and obligations. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with our posted privacy policies or with any federal or state privacy or consumer protection-related laws, regulations, industry self-regulatory principles, industry standards or codes of conduct, regulatory guidance, orders to which we may be subject or other legal obligations relating to privacy or consumer protection could adversely affect our reputation, brand and business, and may result in claims, fines, penalties, investigations, proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities, customers, suppliers or others or other liabilities or may require us to change our operations and/or cease using certain data.
Any such claims, proceedings, investigations or actions could hurt our reputation, brand and business, force us to incur significant expenses in defense of such claims, proceedings, investigations or actions, distract our management, increase our costs of doing business, result in a loss of customers, suppliers or vendors and result in the imposition of monetary penalties. We may also be contractually required to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs and consequences of non-compliance with any laws, regulations or other legal obligations relating to privacy or consumer protection or any inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure of data that we store or handle as part of operating our business.
Federal, state and foreign governmental authorities continue to evaluate the privacy implications inherent in the use of third-party “cookies” and other methods of online tracking for behavioral advertising and other purposes. The U.S. government has enacted, has considered or is considering legislation or regulations that could significantly restrict the ability of companies and individuals to engage in these activities, such as by regulating the level of consumer notice and consent required before a company can employ cookies or other electronic tracking tools or the use of data gathered with such tools. Additionally, some providers of consumer devices and web browsers have implemented, or announced plans to implement, means to make it easier for Internet users to prevent the placement of cookies or to block other tracking technologies, which could, if widely adopted, result in the use of third-party cookies and other methods of online tracking becoming significantly more restricted and less effective. The regulation of the use of these cookies and other current online tracking and advertising practices or a loss in our ability to make effective use of services that employ such technologies could increase our costs of operations and limit our ability to acquire new customers on cost-effective terms and, consequently, materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
In addition, various federal, state and foreign legislative and regulatory bodies, or self-regulatory organizations, may expand current laws or regulations, enact new laws or regulations or issue revised rules or guidance regarding privacy, data protection, consumer protection, and advertising. For example, in June 2018, the State of California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”), which came into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA requires companies that process information relating to California residents to implement additional data security measures, to make new disclosures to consumers about their data collection, use and sharing practices, and allows consumers to opt out of certain data sharing with third parties. In addition, the CCPA provides for civil penalties and allows private lawsuits from California residents in the event of certain data breaches. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission and many state attorneys general are interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws to impose standards for the online collection, use, dissemination and security of data. Each of these privacy, security, and data protection laws and regulations,
and any other such changes or new laws or regulations, could impose significant limitations, require changes to our business, or restrict our use or storage of personal information, which may increase our compliance expenses and make our business more costly or less efficient to conduct. In addition, any such changes could compromise our ability to develop an adequate marketing strategy and pursue our growth strategy effectively.
Any failure to comply with applicable laws or other obligations or any security incident or breach involving the misappropriation, loss or other unauthorized processing, use or disclosure of sensitive or confidential consumer or other personal information, whether by us, one of our third-party service providers or vendors or another third party, could have adverse effects, including but not limited to: investigation costs; material fines and penalties; compensatory, special, punitive and statutory damages; litigation; consent orders regarding our privacy and security practices; requirements that we provide notices, credit monitoring services and/or credit restoration services or other relevant services to impacted individuals; reputational damage; and injunctive relief. We cannot assure you that our vendors or other third-party service providers with access to our or our customers’ or employees’ personally identifiable and other sensitive or confidential information in relation to which we are responsible will not breach contractual obligations imposed by us, or that they will not experience data security breaches, which could have a corresponding effect on our business, including putting us in breach of our obligations under privacy laws and regulations and/or which could in turn adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We also cannot assure you that our contractual measures and our own privacy and security-related safeguards will protect us from the risks associated with the third-party processing, use, storage and transmission of such information. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Risk Related to Indebtedness and Financing
Our indebtedness could adversely affect our financial flexibility and our competitive position.
As of December 31, 2020, we owe $460.0 million under our Senior Secured Credit Facility (as defined below). Our level of indebtedness increases the risk that we may be unable to generate cash sufficient to pay amounts due in respect of our indebtedness. Our indebtedness could have other important consequences to you and significant effects on our business. For example, it could:
•increase our vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions;
•require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to make payments on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes;
•limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate;
•restrict us from exploiting business opportunities;
•make it more difficult to satisfy our financial obligations, including payments on our indebtedness;
•place us at a disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt; and
•limit our ability to borrow additional funds for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our business strategy or other general corporate purposes.
In addition, the agreement governing the Senior Secured Credit Facility contains, and the agreements evidencing or governing any other future indebtedness may contain, restrictive covenants that will limit our ability to engage in activities that may be in our long-term best interests. Our failure to comply with those covenants could result in an event of default which, if not cured or waived, could result in the acceleration of all of our indebtedness. In addition, a default by us under the agreement governing the Senior Secured Credit Facility or an agreement governing any other future indebtedness may trigger cross-defaults under any other future agreements governing our indebtedness. Upon the occurrence of an event of default or cross-default
under any of the present or future agreements governing our indebtedness, the lenders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding to be due and payable and exercise other remedies as set forth in the agreements. If any of our indebtedness were to be accelerated, there can be no assurance that our assets would be sufficient to repay this indebtedness in full, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to continue to operate as a going concern.
The agreement governing the Senior Secured Credit Facility contains, and the agreements evidencing or governing any other future indebtedness may contain, financial restrictions on us and our restricted subsidiaries, including restrictions on our or our restricted subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things:
•place liens on our or our restricted subsidiaries’ assets;
•make investments other than permitted investments;
•incur additional indebtedness;
•prepay or redeem certain indebtedness;
•merge, consolidate or dissolve;
•sell assets;
•engage in transactions with affiliates;
•change the nature of our business;
•change our or our subsidiaries’ fiscal year or organizational documents; and
•make restricted payments (including certain equity issuances).
In addition, the Revolving Credit Facility (as defined below) also includes a springing financial maintenance covenant that is tested on the last day of each fiscal quarter if the outstanding loans and certain other credit extensions under the Revolving Credit Facility exceed 35% of the aggregate amount of commitments thereunder, subject to customary exclusions and conditions.
The phase-out, replacement or unavailability of LIBOR and/or other interest rate benchmarks could adversely affect our indebtedness.
The interest rates applicable to the Senior Secured Credit Facility are based on, and the interest rates applicable to certain debt obligations we may incur in the future may be based on, a fluctuating rate of interest determined by reference to the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In July 2017, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates LIBOR, announced that it intends to stop persuading or compelling banks to submit rates for the calculation of LIBOR after 2021. In response to concerns regarding the future of LIBOR, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York convened the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (the “ARRC”) to identify alternatives to LIBOR. The ARRC has recommended a benchmark replacement waterfall to assist issuers in continued capital market entry while safeguarding against LIBOR’s discontinuation. The initial steps in the ARRC’s recommended provision reference variations of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), calculated using short-term repurchase agreements backed by Treasury securities. At this time, it is not possible to predict whether SOFR will attain market traction as a LIBOR replacement. Additionally, it is uncertain if LIBOR will cease to exist after calendar year 2021, or whether additional reforms to LIBOR may be enacted, or whether alternative reference rates will gain market acceptance as a replacement for LIBOR. In anticipation of LIBOR’s phase-out, the credit agreement governing the Senior Secured Credit Facility provides for alternative base rates, as well as a transition mechanism for selecting a benchmark replacement rate for LIBOR, with such benchmark replacement rate to be mutually agreed with the administrative agent and subject to the majority lenders not objecting to such benchmark replacement; provided that, with respect to any proposed amendment containing any SOFR-based rate, the Lenders shall be entitled to object only to the benchmark replacement spread (or method for calculating or determining such spread adjustment) contained therein.
There can be no assurance that we will be able to reach any agreement on a replacement benchmark, and there can be no assurance that any agreement we reach will result in effective interest rates at least as favorable to us as our current effective interest rates. The failure to reach an agreement on a replacement benchmark, or the failure to reach an agreement that results in an effective interest rate at least as favorable to us as our current effective interest rates, could result in a significant increase in our debt service obligations, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the overall financing market may be disrupted as a result of the phase-out or replacement of LIBOR, which could have an adverse impact on our ability to refinance, reprice or amend the Senior Secured Credit Facility, or incur additional indebtedness, on favorable terms, or at all.
We may not be able to raise additional capital to execute our current or future business strategies on favorable terms, if at all, or without dilution to our stockholders.
We expect that we may need to raise additional capital to execute our current or future business strategies. However, we do not know what forms of financing, if any, will be available to us. Some financing activities in which we may engage could cause your equity interest in the Company to be diluted, which could cause the value of your stock to decrease. If financing is not available on acceptable terms, if and when needed, our ability to fund our operations, expand our research and development and sales and marketing functions, develop and enhance our products, respond to unanticipated events, including unanticipated opportunities, or otherwise respond to competitive pressures would be significantly limited. In any such event, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed, and we may be unable to continue our operations.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
As an emerging growth company within the meaning of the Securities Act, we may utilize certain modified disclosure requirements, and we cannot be certain if these reduced requirements will make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an emerging growth company, and, for as long as we continue to be an emerging growth company, we may choose to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies but not to “emerging growth companies,” including not being required to have our independent registered public accounting firm audit our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute compensation not previously approved. We have in this Annual Report on Form 10-K utilized, and we may in future filings with the SEC continue to utilize, the modified disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company can utilize the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. Thus, an emerging growth company can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have elected to not “opt out” of this exemption from complying with new or revised accounting standards, and, therefore, we are permitted to adopt new or revised accounting standards at the time private companies adopt the new or revised accounting standard and are permitted to do so until such time that we either (i) irrevocably elect to “opt out” of such extended transition period or (ii) no longer qualify as an emerging growth company.
We could remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of (i) the last day of the fiscal year during which we had total annual gross revenues of at least $1.07 billion (as indexed for inflation), (ii) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of common stock in connection with our IPO, (iii) the date on which we have, during the previous three-year period, issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt, or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer,” as defined under the Exchange Act. As of the date of this filing we anticipate losing our emerging growth company eligibility on December 31, 2021 based upon our current unaffiliated market capitalization.
Provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management.
Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws 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 from and after the date on which Oaktree Power, Oaktree Investors and each of their respective affiliates cease to beneficially own at least 50% of the outstanding shares of common stock (the “Trigger Event”);
•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;
•from and after the Trigger Event, the removal of directors only for cause and only upon the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 66 2/3% in voting power of all the then-outstanding shares of common stock of the Company entitled to vote thereon;
•providing that our board of directors is expressly authorized to amend, alter, rescind or repeal our bylaws; and
•from and after the Trigger Event, which occurred in 2020, requiring the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66 2/3% of the voting power of all of the then outstanding shares of common stock to amend provisions of our certificate of incorporation relating to the management of our business, our board of directors, stockholder action by written consent, calling special meetings of stockholders, competition and corporate opportunities, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”), forum selection and the liability of our directors, or to amend, alter, rescind or repeal our bylaws.
In addition, we are not governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the 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.
In addition, our certificate of incorporation provides that the federal district courts of the United States is the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act but that the forum selection provision will not apply to claims brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).
Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.
Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the DGCL, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine; or any action asserting an “internal corporate claim” as defined in Section 115 of the DGCL. The choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We do not intend to pay any cash distributions or dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.
We have never declared or paid any distributions or dividends on our common stock, except the Special Distribution (as defined below). We currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any cash distributions or dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash distributions or dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws and provisions of our debt instruments and organizational documents, after taking into account our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. 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.
Internal control deficiencies have historically been identified that constituted material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. If we fail to implement and maintain effective internal controls over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which may adversely affect our business.
In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, we identified certain material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weaknesses in the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018 were related to our financial close process, reconciliation of deferred and unbilled revenue, and inventory cut-off and pricing, specifically due to lack of qualified accounting and finance personnel, and in the case of the existing material weakness for inventory cut-off, due mainly to lack of system capabilities. In preparing our financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, our internal controls failed to detect certain errors related to the classification of deferred and unbilled revenue, as well as inventory. As of December 31, 2020, we have remediated the material weaknesses related to our financial statements close process, reconciliation of deferred and unbilled revenue and inventory pricing, and are in the process of remediating the material weaknesses associated with inventory cut-off. Although no material errors were identified in this area for the year ended December 31, 2020, the material weakness for inventory cut-off is deemed still not remediated as of December 31, 2020. We have hired additional accounting and finance personnel with technical accounting and financial reporting experience as well as implemented procedures and
controls in the financial close processes to remediate the material weaknesses for our financial statement close process, reconciliation of deferred and unbilled revenue, and inventory pricing. We have also taken steps intended to remediate the inventory cut-off weaknesses primarily through procedures and controls in the financial statement close process while working to deploy system enhancements designed to improve the accuracy of inventory reporting. While we believe that these efforts will improve our internal control over financial reporting, the implementation of these procedures is ongoing and will require validation and testing of the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over a sustained period of financial reporting cycles. We cannot be certain that these measures will successfully remediate the material weakness or that other material weaknesses and control deficiencies will not be discovered in the future.
As an emerging growth company, our independent registered public accounting firm is not required, and has not conducted an audit of our internal control over financial reporting. Due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies, our management has not completed an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting herein. Evaluation by us of our internal controls over financial reporting may identify additional material weaknesses. The identification of a material weakness in our internal controls or the failure to remediate existing material weaknesses in our internal controls may cause us to be unable to report our financial information on a timely basis and thereby subject us to adverse regulatory consequences, including sanctions by the SEC or violations of Nasdaq rules. There also could be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could also lead to a decline in the price of our common stock.
We are required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley, and will therefore be required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for that purpose. We are required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Sections 302 and 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley, which will require our management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Though we are required to disclose material changes made to our internal controls and procedures on a quarterly basis, we are not required to make our first annual assessment of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the year following the first annual report we are required to file with the SEC. To comply with the requirements of being a public company, we need to implement additional internal controls, reporting systems and procedures and hire additional accounting, finance and legal staff. For as long as we are an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404. We could be an “emerging growth company” for up to five years. An independent assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting could detect problems that our management’s assessment might not. Undetected material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting could lead to financial statement restatements and require us to incur the expense of remediation.
If we fail to establish and maintain an effective system of integrated internal controls, we may not be able to report our financial results accurately, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Ensuring that we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place so that we can produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that will need to be evaluated frequently. Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires public companies to conduct an annual review and evaluation of their internal controls and requires attestations of the effectiveness of internal controls by independent auditors in certain situations. We will be required to perform the internal annual review and evaluation of our internal controls no later than for fiscal 2021. We initially qualify as an emerging growth company, and thus, we will be exempt from the auditors’ attestation requirement until such time as we no
longer qualify as an emerging growth company. Regardless of whether we qualify as an emerging growth company, we will still need to implement substantial control systems and procedures in order to satisfy the reporting requirements under the Exchange Act and applicable Nasdaq requirements, among other items. Establishing these internal controls are costly and may divert management’s attention.
Evaluation by us of our internal controls over financial reporting may identify material weaknesses that may cause us to be unable to report our financial information on a timely basis and thereby subject us to adverse regulatory consequences, including sanctions by the SEC or violations of Nasdaq rules. There also could be a negative reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of investor confidence in us and the reliability of our financial statements. Confidence in the reliability of our financial statements also could suffer if we or our independent registered public accounting firm were to report a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting. This could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and could also lead to a decline in the price of our common stock.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties
Our corporate headquarters are located in Albuquerque, New Mexico and consists of 11,647 square feet of office space and 57,911 square feet of manufacturing, warehousing and shipping space, respectively. We own our corporate headquarters.
In addition to our corporate headquarters, we lease approximately 1,276,000, 649,000, 500,000, 357,000, 187,000 ,176,000, and 135,000 square feet of warehousing facilities in Kansas, Nevada, Tennessee, Ohio, Texas, New Mexico, and Wisconsin, respectively. We also lease space in Australia and Spain for sales and technical support employees.
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.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
On August 30, 2017, Array filed its first amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico against Colin Mitchell, Nextracker, Inc., Flextronics International U.S.A., Inc., Marco Garcia, Daniel S. Shugar, and Scott Graybeal (collectively “Defendants”) asserting (among other claims) trade secret misappropriation, tortious interference with contract, fraud, and breach of contract. Defendant Mitchell was formerly an employee of the Company, but was hired by Nextracker in violation of his non-compete agreement, and shared with Nextracker and the other defendants certain of Array’s trade secrets and confidential information in violation of his legal obligations. Defendants filed their answer to the amended complaint on February 5, 2018 denying the allegations, but did not assert any counterclaims against Array. The case has been vigorously litigated through the close of fact discovery and expert discovery. As of September 1, 2020, the court has ruled on a number of motions, including a dismissal of the Defendants’ unclean hands defense and granting partial summary judgment in favor of Array for breach of contract. As of December 31, 2020, the Court has denied in every material aspect the motion for summary judgment filed by the Defendants. The Court has yet to rule on a motion for sanctions filed by Array. We anticipate that once the court has ruled on all of the pending motions, and the court procedures allow for jury trials to resume, it will set a trial date.
From time to time, we may be involved in litigation relating to claims arising out of our operations and businesses that cover a wide range of matters, including, among others, intellectual property matters, contract and employment claims, personal injury claims, product liability claims and warranty claims. Currently, there are no claims or proceedings against us that we believe will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. However, the results of any current or future litigation cannot be predicted with certainty and, regardless of the outcome, we may incur significant costs and experience a diversion of management resources as a result of litigation.

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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 $0.001 per share, began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol “ARRY” on October 15, 2020. Prior to that date, there was no public trading market for our common stock.
Holders of Record
As of March 5, 2021, there were approximately 2 stockholders of record of our common stock, which does not include shares held in street name.
Dividend Policy
We have never declared or paid any distributions or dividends on our common stock, except the Special Distribution. We currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any cash distributions or dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare cash distributions or dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to applicable laws and provisions of our debt instruments and organizational documents, after taking into account our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Our Equity Compensation Plans
Information regarding securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to Item 12, “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters” of Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Stock Performance Graph
Recent Sales of Unregistered Equity Securities
None.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Item 6. Selected Financial Data.
Consolidated Statements of Operations Data:
Year Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018
Revenues $ 872,662 $ 647,899 $ 290,783
Gross profit $ 202,801 $ 150,761 $ 11,555
Net Income (Loss) $ 59,073 $ 39,745 $ (60,764)
Earnings (Loss) per Share
Basic and Diluted $ 0.49 $ 0.33 $ (0.51)
Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
December 31,
2020 2019 2018
Total assets $ 656,024 $ 923,581 $ 509,861
Long-term liabilities $ 447,820 $ 27,810 $ 110,816
Total liabilities $ 736,923 $ 618,430 $ 245,387
Total member’s equity/stockholders’ deficit $ (80,899) $ 305,151 $ 264,474

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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.
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and the related notes and other financial information included in this Annual Report on 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 Form 10-K captioned “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors.”
Overview
We are one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ground-mounting systems used in solar energy projects. Our principal product is an integrated system of steel supports, electric motors, gearboxes and electronic controllers commonly referred to as a single-axis “tracker.” Trackers move solar panels throughout the day to maintain an optimal orientation to the sun, which significantly increases their energy production. Solar energy projects that use trackers generate up to 25% more energy than projects that use “fixed tilt” mounting systems, which do not move.
Our trackers use a patented design that allows one motor to drive multiple rows of solar panels through articulated driveline joints. To avoid infringing on our U.S. patent, our competitors must use designs that we believe are inherently less efficient and reliable. For example, our largest competitor’s design requires one motor for each row of solar panels. As a result, we believe our products have greater reliability, lower installation costs, reduced maintenance requirements and competitive manufacturing costs. Our core U.S. patent on a linked-row, rotating gear drive system does not expire until February 5, 2030.
We sell our products to engineering, procurement and construction firms (“EPCs”) that build solar energy projects and to large solar developers, independent power producers and utilities, often under master supply agreements or multi-year procurement contracts. In 2020, we derived 92% and 8% of our revenues from customers in the U.S. and rest of the world, respectively.
We are a U.S. company and our headquarters and principal manufacturing facility are in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As of December 31, 2020, we had 389 full-time employees.
Impact of COVID-19
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, surfaced in Wuhan, China. Since then, COVID-19 has spread to multiple countries, including the United States. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. To date, we have maintained uninterrupted business operations with normal turnaround times for the delivery of solar tracking systems. We have implemented adjustments to our operations designed to keep employees safe and comply with federal, state and local guidelines, including those regarding social distancing. The extent to which COVID19 may further impact the Company’s business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence. In response to COVID-19, the United States government has passed legislation and taken other actions to provide financial relief to companies and other organizations affected by the pandemic.
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. The primary operating metric we use to evaluate our sales performance and to track market acceptance of our products from year to year is megawatts (“MWs”) shipped generally and the change in MW shipped from period to period specifically. MWs is measured for each individual project and is calculated based on the expected output of that project once installed and fully operational.
We also utilize metrics related to price and cost of goods sold per MW, including average selling price (“ASP”) and cost per watt (“CPW”). ASP is calculated by dividing total applicable revenues by total applicable MWs, whereas CPW is calculated by dividing total applicable costs of goods sold by total applicable MWs. These metrics enable us to evaluate trends in pricing, manufacturing cost and customer profitability.
Key Components of Our Results of Operations
The following discussion describes certain line items in our consolidated statements of operations.
Revenues
We generate revenue from the sale of solar tracking systems and parts. Our customers include EPCs, utilities, solar developers and independent power producers. For each individual solar project, we enter into a contract with our customers covering the price, specifications, delivery dates and warranty for the products being purchased, among other things. Our contractual delivery period for the tracker system and parts can vary from days to several months. Contracts can range in value from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of dollars.
Our revenue is affected by changes in the volume and ASPs of solar tracking systems purchased by our customers. The quarterly volume and ASP of our systems is driven by the supply of, and demand for, our products, changes in product mix between module type and wattage, geographic mix of our customers, strength of competitors’ product offerings, and availability of government incentives to the end-users of our products.
Our revenue growth is dependent on continued growth in the amount of solar energy projects installed each year as well as our ability to increase our share of demand in each of the geographies where we compete, expand our global footprint to new evolving markets, grow our production capabilities to meet demand and to continue to develop and introduce new and innovative products that address the changing technology and performance requirements of our customers.
Cost of Revenues and Gross Profit
Cost of revenues consists primarily of product costs, including purchased components, as well as costs related to shipping, tariffs, customer support, product warranty, personnel and depreciation of test and manufacturing equipment. Personnel costs in cost of revenues includes both direct labor costs as well as costs attributable to any individuals whose activities relate to the transformation of raw materials or component parts into finished goods or the transportation of materials to the customer. Our product costs are affected by the underlying cost of raw materials, including steel and aluminum; component costs, including electric motors and gearboxes; technological innovation; economies of scale resulting in lower component costs, and improvements in production processes and automation. We do not currently hedge against changes in the price of raw materials. Some of these costs, primarily personnel and depreciation of test and manufacturing equipment, are not directly affected by sales volume.
Gross profit may vary from quarter to quarter and is primarily affected by our ASPs, product costs, product mix, customer mix, geographical mix, shipping method, warranty costs and seasonality.
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses consist of general and administrative costs, contingent consideration, as well as depreciation and amortization expense. Personnel-related costs are the most significant component of our operating expenses and include salaries, benefits, payroll taxes and commissions. Our full-time employee headcount in our general and administrative departments has grown from approximately 150 as of December 31, 2019 to 177 at December 31, 2020, and we expect to continue to hire 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 continued technological advancement and anticipate that general and administrative and depreciation expenses will increase in absolute dollar amounts for the foreseeable future.
General and administrative expenses
General and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries, equity-based compensation, employee benefits and payroll taxes related to our executives, sales, finance, human resources, information technology, engineering and legal organizations, as well as travel, facilities costs, marketing, bad debt and fees for professional services. Professional services consist of audit, legal, tax, insurance, information technology and other costs. We expect an increase in the number of sales and marketing personnel in connection with the expansion of our global sales and marketing footprint, enabling us to penetrate new markets. The majority of our sales in 2020 were in the U.S.; however, during the year we expanded our international presence with additional global sales staff. We currently have a sales presence in the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Brazil. We intend to continue to expand our sales presence and marketing efforts to additional countries. We also expect that as a public company we will incur additional audit, tax, accounting, legal and other costs related to compliance with applicable securities and other regulations, as well as additional insurance, investor relations and other costs associated with being a public company. We also anticipate an increase in our spend related to product innovation as we hire additional engineering resources and increase our external R&D spend.
Contingent Consideration
Contingent consideration consists of the changes in fair value of the earn-out and the TRA entered into with Ron P. Corio, our indirect stockholder, concurrent with Former Parent’s acquisition of Patent, LLC.
The earn-out liability was recorded at fair value at the acquisition date and subsequent changes in the fair value are recognized in earnings. Fair value of the earn-out liability is measured based upon the expected return of investment of Former Parent, among other things. Payments related to the earn-out liability are required to be evaluated upon the occurrence of certain events, including the consummation of an IPO; the sale, transfer, assignment, pledge, encumbrance, distribution or disposition of shares of Former Parent held by Oaktree Power and Oaktree Investors to a third party; the sale of equity securities or assets of Former Parent, ATI Investment Sub, Inc. or Array Technologies, Inc. to a third-party; or a merger, consolidation, recapitalization or reorganization of Former Parent, ATI Investment Sub, Inc. or the Company. The IPO, Special Distribution and our follow-on offering in December 2020 (the “Follow-on Offering”) required the Company to make a cash payment of $9.1 million in October 2020 and $15.9 million in December 2020. As a result of these payments our earn-out liability has been paid in full.
The TRA liability was recorded at fair value at the acquisition date and subsequent changes in the fair value are recognized in earnings. The TRA will generally provide for the payment by Array Tech, Inc. (f/k/a Array Technologies, Inc.) to Ron P. Corio for certain federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax benefits deemed realized in post-closing taxable periods by Array Tech, Inc. (f/k/a Array Technologies, Inc.) from the use of certain deductions generated by the increase in the tax value of the developed technology. Estimating fair value of the
TRA is by nature imprecise. The significant fair value inputs used to estimate the future expected TRA payments to Ron P. Corio include the timing of tax payments, a discount rate, book income projections, timing of expected adjustments to calculate taxable income and the projected rate of use for attributes defined in the TRA.
Depreciation
Depreciation in our operating expense consists of costs associated with property, plant and equipment (“PP&E”) not used in manufacturing of our products. We expect that as we continue to grow both our revenue and our general and administrative personnel we will require some additional PP&E to support this growth resulting in additional depreciation expense.
Amortization
Amortization of intangibles consist of developed technology, customer relationships and internal-use software modifications over their expected period of use.
Non-Operating Expenses
Interest Expense
Interest expense consists of interest and other charges paid in connection with our Senior Secured Credit Facility (as defined below) and our Senior ABL Facility, interest on the Senior Secured Promissory Note (as defined below), and interest on our Prior Term Loan Facility (as defined below), which was fully repaid on February 2, 2020.
Income Tax Expense
We are subject to federal and state income taxes in the United States.
Results of Operations
The following tables set forth our consolidated statement of operations (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31, Increase (Decrease)
2020 2019 $ %
Revenues $ 872,662 $ 647,899 $ 224,763 35 %
Cost of Revenues 669,861 497,138 172,723 35 %
Gross profit 202,801 150,761 52,040 35 %
Operating Expenses
General and administrative 55,634 41,212 14,422 35 %
Contingent consideration 26,441 640 25,801 4031 %
Depreciation and amortization 25,514 25,500 14 - %
Total Operating Expenses 107,589 67,352 40,237 60 %
Income from Operations 95,212 83,409 11,803 14 %
Other Expense
Other expense, net (2,305) (33) 2,272 6885 %
Interest expense (15,129) (18,797) (3,668) (20) %
Total Other Expense (17,434) (18,830) (1,396) (7) %
77,778 64,579 13,199 20 %
Income Tax Expense 18,705 24,834 (6,129) (25) %
Net Income $ 59,073 $ 39,745 $ 19,328 49 %
Other Financial Information (unaudited):
Adjusted EBITDA $ 160,539 $ 121,789 $ 38,750 32 %
Adjusted Net Income $ 112,411 $ 80,179 $ 32,232 40 %
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019
Revenues
Revenues increased by $224.8 million, or 35%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. Total MW delivered increased by approximately 32% for the year ended December 31, 2020 driven by a higher number of projects delivered in 2020 compared to 2019. ASPs were up 2% year over year reflecting a change in the mix of our projects.
Cost of Revenues and Gross Profit
Cost of revenues increased by $172.7 million, or 35%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 primarily due to the increase in the number of MW delivered. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue remained relatively flat at 23.2% for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to 23.3% for the year ended December 31, 2019. Cost Per Watt was up 2% year over year reflecting a change in the mix of our projects.
Operating Expenses:
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses increased by $14.4 million, or 35%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in general and administrative expense was due to a $4.1 million collection of an accounts receivable for which the allowance for bad debt was recorded in 2018, an increase in equity-based compensation of $4.0 million related to the Class B and C unit grants in November 2019 and May 2020. Equity-based compensation is amortized monthly over the vesting period resulting in more equity-based compensation as the grants were outstanding for more monthly periods in 2020. We also increased our internal headcount in 2020 to support our growth and business plan resulting in higher payroll and related costs. The increase in general and administrative expenses was partially offset from a reduction in third-party spend related to business process outsourcing, consulting costs, and other professional fees as a result of the completion of our ERP implementation as well as a reduction in travel expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Contingent Consideration
Contingent consideration expense increased by $25.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to $0.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was due to an increase in the fair value of our earn-out obligation and a slight increase in the fair value of our TRA. The earn-out value was based upon the anticipated return of investment our sponsor expects to receive upon liquidation of its investment in Array. As a result of the IPO, Special Distribution and Follow-on Offering, we were required to pay the maximum amount of the earn-out ($25 million) during the fourth quarter of 2020 resulting in a change in the fair value of the earn-out of $24.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2020.
Depreciation
Depreciation expense for the year ended December 31, 2020 was similar to the year ended December 31, 2019 as we did not add any significant capital assets.
Amortization of Intangibles
Amortization of intangibles for the year ended December 31, 2020 was similar to the year ended December 31, 2019 as we did not add any significant intangible assets.
Interest Expense
Interest expenses decreased by $3.7 million, or 20%, for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily due to lower interest on our Term Loan Facility (as defined below) as it was paid in full in February 2020 and our Senior Secured Promissory Note as it was paid in full in July 2020. During October 2020 we entered into our Senior Secured Credit Facility and borrowed $575 million. We used IPO proceeds to repay $105 million and made additional principal payments of $10.0 million in December 2020 resulting in a balance of $460.0 million outstanding at December 31, 2020. We anticipate an increase in interest expense as a result of our Senior Secured Credit Facility.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense decreased by $6.1 million, or 25% for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019. Our effective tax rate was 24.0% for year ended December 31, 2020 and 38.5% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2019 was higher than the statutory rate as a result of a $9.3 million permanent difference from the settlement of an IRS examination which reduced the value of the developed technology from $210.0 million to $188.0 million for federal income tax purposes. The reduction in value increased our deferred tax liability related to the developed technology by $4.6 million. The settlement with the IRS also resulted in payments related to the TRA being non-deductible for tax purposes, resulting in the write-off of the deferred tax asset related to the TRA totaling $4.7 million. The effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2020 benefited from a $6.6 million income tax benefit received from the NOL carryback provision provided by the CARES Act. The benefit from the CARES Act was offset by a significant amount of permanent differences.
Net Income
As a result of the factors discussed above, our net income increased by $19.3 million, or 49%, in 2020 as compared to 2019.
Comparison of the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018
A discussion and analysis covering the comparison of the year ended December 31, 2019 to the year ended December 31, 2018 is included in our prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 4, 2020.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income, which are not presented in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income are being presented because they provide the Company and readers of this Form 10-K with additional insight into our operational performance relative to earlier periods and relative to our competitors. We do not intend Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income to be substitutes for any GAAP financial information. Readers of this Form 10-K should use Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income only in conjunction with Net Income, the most comparable GAAP financial measure. Reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income to Net Income, the most comparable GAAP measure to each, are provided in “-Non-GAAP Financial Measure.”
Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income (Non-GAAP)
We present Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income as supplemental measures of our performance. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) plus (i) interest expense, (ii) other (income) expense, (iii) income tax expense (benefit), (iv) depreciation expense, (v) amortization of intangibles, (vi) equity based compensation, (vii) remeasurement of the fair value of contingent consideration, (viii) ERP implementation costs, (ix) certain legal expense, and (x) other costs. We define Adjusted Net Income as net income (loss) plus (i) amortization of intangibles, (ii) amortization of debt discount and issuance costs, (iii) equity based compensation, (iv) remeasurement of the fair value of contingent consideration, (v) ERP implementation costs, (vi) certain legal expense, (vii) other costs, and (viii) income tax (expense) benefit of adjustments.
Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income are intended as supplemental measures of performance that are neither required by, nor presented in accordance with, GAAP. We present Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income because we believe they assist investors and analysts in comparing our performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. In addition, we use Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income: (i) as factors in evaluating management’s performance when determining incentive compensation; (ii) to evaluate the effectiveness of our business strategies; and (iii) because our credit agreement uses measures similar to Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income to measure our compliance with certain covenants.
Among other limitations, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income do not reflect our cash expenditures, or future requirements, for capital expenditures or contractual commitments; do not reflect the impact of certain cash charges resulting from matters we consider not to be indicative of our ongoing operations; do not reflect income tax expense or benefit; and other companies in our industry may calculate Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income differently than we do, which limits their usefulness as comparative measures.
Because of these limitations, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for performance measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income on a
supplemental basis. You should review the reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income below and not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our business.
The following table reconciles net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018
Net income (loss) $ 59,073 $ 39,745 $ (60,764)
Interest expense 15,129 18,797 19,043
Other expense, net 2,305 33 447
Income tax expense (benefit) 18,705 24,834 (19,932)
Depreciation expense 2,224 2,066 1,944
Amortization of intangibles 25,250 25,250 26,506
Equity-based compensation 4,809 799 -
Contingent consideration 26,441 640 (825)
ERP implementation costs(a)
1,946 2,874 5,810
Legal expense(b)
1,068 3,915 1,483
Other costs(c)
3,589 2,836 3,636
Adjusted EBITDA $ 160,539 $ 121,789 $ (22,652)
(a) Represents consulting costs associated with our enterprise resource planning system implementation.
(b) Represents certain legal fees and other related costs associated with (i) a patent infringement action against a competitor for which a judgement has been entered in our favor and successful defense of a related matter and (ii) a pending action against a competitor in connection with violation of a non-competition agreement and misappropriation of trade secrets. We consider these costs not representative of legal costs that we will incur from time to time in the ordinary course of our business.
(c) For the year ended December 31, 2020, other costs represent (i) certain costs associated with our IPO and Follow-on Offering of $3.5 million and, (ii) costs associated with our initial Board of Directors search for $0.1 million. For the year ended December 31, 2019, other costs represent (i) consulting fees for certain accounting, finance and IT services of $2.6 million and (ii) $0.2 million for the executive consulting costs. For the year ended December 31, 2018, other costs represent (i) consulting fees for certain accounting, finance and IT services of $3.6 million.
The following table reconciles net income to Adjusted Net Income (loss) (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018
Net Income (loss) $ 59,073 $ 39,745 $ (60,764)
Amortization of intangibles 25,250 25,250 26,506
Amortization of debt discount and issuance costs 3,366 3,968 2,991
Equity based compensation 4,809 799 -
Contingent consideration 26,441 640 (825)
ERP implementation costs(a)
1,946 2,874 5,810
Legal expense(b)
1,068 3,915 1,483
Other costs(c)
5,821 2,836 3,636
Income tax expense of adjustments(d)
(8,755) (9,132) (9,338)
Non-recurring income tax adjustments related to the IRS settlement and CARES Act (6,608) 9,284 -
Adjusted Net Income (loss) $ 112,411 $ 80,179 $ (30,501)
(a) Represents consulting costs associated with our enterprise resource planning system implementation.
(b) Represents certain legal fees and other related costs associated with (i) a patent infringement action against a competitor for which a judgement has been entered in our favor and successful defense of a related matter and (ii) a pending action against a competitor in connection with violation of a non-competition agreement and misappropriation of trade secrets. We consider these costs not representative of legal costs that we will incur from time to time in the ordinary course of our business.
(c) For the year ended December 31, 2020, other costs represent (i) certain costs associated with our IPO and Follow-on Offering of $3.5 million, (ii) $2.2 million to the former majority shareholder in connection with tax benefits received as part of the CARES act (this $2.2 million is reflected in the "Other Expense" line in Adjusted EBITDA) and (iii) costs associated with our initial Board of Directors search for $0.1 million. For the year ended December 31, 2019, other costs represent (i) consulting fees for certain accounting, finance and IT services of $2.6 million and (ii) $0.2 million for the executive consulting costs. For the year ended December 31, 2018, other costs represent (i) consulting fees for certain accounting, finance and IT services of $3.6 million.
(d) Represents the estimated tax impact of all Adjusted Net Income add-backs, excluding those which represent permanent differences between book versus tax.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Historical Cash Flow
The following table compares the historical cash flow (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31,
2020 2019
Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Operating Activities $ (122,205) $ 386,073
Net Cash Used in Investing Activities (1,338) (1,697)
Net Cash (Used in) provided by Financing Activities (129,273) (63,945)
Net (Decrease) Increase in Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash $ (252,816) $ 320,431
We have historically financed our operations primarily with the proceeds from contributions, operating cash flows and short and long-term borrowings. Our ability to generate positive cash flow from operations is dependent on the strength our gross margins as well as our ability to quickly turn our working capital. Based on our past performance and current expectations, we believe that operating cash flows will be sufficient to meet our future cash needs. Our Senior Secured Credit Facility (see discussion below) provides an additional source of short and long-term liquidity to fund operations.
As of December 31, 2020, our cash and cash equivalents was $108.4 million. Net working capital as of December 31, 2020 was $86.1 million.
As of December 31, 2020, we had outstanding borrowings of $460.0 million under the Term Loan Facility and $103.4 million available of our $150.0 million commitment under our Revolving Credit Facility.
Operating Activities
For the year ended December 31, 2020, cash used by operating activities was $122.2 million primarily due to payments to our suppliers for products that were paid for by customers in 2019, but that we did not ship until 2020. In order for our customers to take advantage of the ITC credit, we received payment on these projects in the fourth quarter of 2019.
For the year ended December 31, 2019 cash provided by operating activities was $386.1 million, due to an increase in deferred revenue of $307.0 million resulting from payments made by customers for products we did not ship until the first half of 2020. Additionally, there was a $94.6 million increase in inventory and a $105.5 million increase in accounts payable in preparation of expected volume increases in the first quarter of 2020.
Investing Activities
For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, net cash used in investing activities was $1.3 million and $1.7 million, respectively, primarily attributable to the purchase of property and equipment.
Financing Activities
For the year ended December 31, 2020, net cash used by financing activities was $129.3 million. Net proceeds from the Term Loan Facility and IPO were $460.0 million and $139.1 million, respectively. The Company also paid a special distribution to its members prior to our IPO of $589.0 million (the “Special Distribution”) along with $57.7 million and $45.6 million payments of the Term Loan and Senior Secured Promissory Note, respectively.
For the year ended December 31, 2019, net cash used by financing activities was $63.9 million, of which $25.0 million and $39.1 million was attributable to the payment of the Prior Term Loan Facility and Senior ABL Facility.
Discussion of 2018 Historical Cash Flows
A discussion and analysis covering historical cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2018 is included in our prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 4, 2020.
Debt Obligations
Senior Secured Credit Facility
On October 14, 2020, the Company entered into a senior secured credit facility consisting of (i) a $575.0 million senior secured seven-year term loan facility (the “Term Loan Facility”) and (ii) a $150.0 million senior secured 5-year revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility” and, together with the Term Loan Facility, the “Senior Secured Credit Facility”). On February 26, 2021, we entered into the incremental facility amendment No. 2 (the “Second Amendment”) to the Senior Secured Credit Facility. The Second Amendment increases the $150.0 million Revolving Credit Facility from $150.0 million to $200.0 million. As of December 31, 2020, the Term Loan Facility had a balance of $460.0 million. The Term Loan Facility accrued interest equal to applicable margin of 1% plus base rate (4% at December 31, 2020). On February 23, 2021 we entered into the first amendment (“First Amendment”) to our Senior Secured Credit Facility. The First Amendment, in the case of the Eurocurrency borrowings, lowers the London interbank offered rate floor to 50 basis points from 100 basis points and lowers the applicable margin to 325 basis points from 400 basis points per annum. This results in our current rate on the Term Loan Facility decreasing to 3.75% down from 5% prior to the First Amendment.The balance of the Term Loan Facility is presented in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets net of debt discount and issuance costs of $31.7 million at December 31, 2020. The debt discount and issuance costs are being amortized using the effective interest method and the rate as of December 31, 2020 is 6.08%. The Term Loan Facility has an annual excess cash flow calculation beginning with the year ended December 31, 2021 which could require the Company to make advance principal payments.
Letters of Credit
Under the Revolving Credit Facility, the Company had no outstanding balance, $46.6 million in standby letters of credit and availability of $103.4 million under the Revolving Credit Facility.
Interest Rate
The interest rates applicable to the loans under the Term Loan Facility equal, at our option, either, (i) in the case of ABR borrowings, the highest of (a) the Federal Funds Rate as of such day plus 50 basis points, (b) the prime rate and (c) the adjusted LIBOR rate as of such day for a deposit in U.S. dollars with a maturity of one month plus 100 basis points, provided that in no event shall the ABR be less than 150 basis points, plus, in each case, the applicable margin of 300 basis points per annum; or (ii) in the case of Eurocurrency borrowings, the greater of (a) the LIBOR for the relevant currency, adjusted for statutory reserve requirements, and (b) 100 basis points, plus, in each case, the applicable margin of 400 basis points per annum. Pursuant to the First Amendment, (i) the applicable margin (a) with respect to ABR borrowings was reduced to 225 basis points and (b) with respect to Eurocurrency borrowings was reduced to 325 basis points and (ii) the LIBOR floor referred to in clause (ii)(b) above was reduced from 100 to 50 basis points.
The interest rates applicable to the loans under the Revolving Facility equal, at our option, either, (i) in the case of ABR borrowings, the highest of (a) the Federal Funds Rate as of such day plus 50 basis points, (b) the prime rate and (c) the adjusted LIBOR rate as of such day for a deposit in U.S. dollars with a maturity of one month plus 100 basis points, provided that in no event shall the ABR be less than 150 basis points, plus, in each case, the applicable margin of 225 basis points per annum; or (ii) in the case of Eurocurrency borrowings, the greater of (a) the LIBOR for the relevant currency, adjusted for statutory reserve requirements, and (b) 50 basis points, plus, in each case, the applicable margin of 325 basis points per annum.
Guarantees and Security
The obligations under the Senior Secured Credit Facility are guaranteed by ATI Investment Sub, Inc. and its wholly owned domestic subsidiaries other than certain immaterial subsidiaries and other excluded subsidiaries. The obligations under the Senior Secured Credit Facility are secured by a first priority security interest in substantially all of Array Tech, Inc.’s and the guarantors’ existing and future property and assets, including accounts receivable, inventory, equipment, general intangibles, intellectual property, investment property, other personal property, material owned real property, cash and proceeds of the foregoing.
Prepayments and Amortization
Loans under the Revolving Credit Facility may be voluntarily prepaid in whole, or in part, in each case without premium or penalty. Loans under the Term Loan Facility may be voluntarily prepaid in whole, or in part, in each case without premium or penalty (other than a 1% premium with respect to prepayments on account of certain “repricing events,” subject to exceptions, occurring within 12 months of the closing date of the Senior Secured Credit Facility).
The Senior Secured Credit Facility requires mandatory prepayments, but not permanent reductions of commitments thereunder, for excess cash flow, asset sales, subject to a right of reinvestment, and refinancing facilities.
The Term Loan Facility amortizes in equal quarterly installments in aggregate annual amounts equal to 1.00% per annum of the original principal amount of the loans funded thereunder. There is no scheduled amortization under the Revolving Credit Facility.
Restrictive Covenants and Other Matters
The Senior Secured Credit Facility contains affirmative and negative covenants including covenants that restrict our incurrence of indebtedness, incurrence of liens, dispositions, investments, acquisitions, restricted payments, transactions with affiliates, as well as other negative covenants customary for financings of this type.
The Revolving Credit Facility also includes a springing financial maintenance covenant that is tested on the last day of each fiscal quarter if the outstanding loans and certain other credit extensions under the New Revolving Credit Facility exceed 35% of the aggregate amount of commitments thereunder. If the financial maintenance covenant is triggered, the first lien net leverage ratio will be tested for compliance not to exceed 7.10 to 1.00.
The Senior Secured Credit Facility also includes customary events of default, including the
occurrence of a change of control.
Senior ABL Facility
The Company had a Senior ABL Facility which, as amended on March 23, 2020, had maximum availability of $100.0 million and matures on March 23, 2025. The amount available to be borrowed under the Senior ABL Facility was determined by a borrowing base consisting of our eligible inventory, eligible accounts receivable and cash. On October 14, 2020, we repaid the entire outstanding balance of the Senior ABL Facility and closed this facility.
The interest rates applicable to the loans under the Senior ABL Facility were based on a fluctuating rate of interest determined by reference to a base rate plus an applicable margin ranging from 0.50% to 1.00% or a prime rate or Eurocurrency rate plus an applicable margin ranging from 1.50% to 2.00%. The applicable margin was adjusted after the completion of each full fiscal quarter based upon the pricing grid in the Senior ABL Facility.
The Senior ABL Facility contained a number of customary affirmative and negative covenants, including covenants that restricted our ability to borrow money, grant liens, pay dividends or dispose of assets, and events of default. Specifically, we were required to maintain a fixed charge coverage ratio, measured as of the last day of each full fiscal quarter, of at least 1.10 to 1.00.
Letter of Credit Facility
On December 16, 2019, we entered into a letter of credit facility (the “LC Facility”) to provide customers with additional credit support in the form of a standby letter of credit to secure our performance obligations under contracts for which certain customers elected to prepay for the design and manufacture of tracker systems. The LC Facility has a commitment of $100.0 million in standby letters of credit which expired August 31, 2020.
Senior Secured Promissory Note
On August 22, 2018, High Desert Finance LLC, our wholly owned subsidiary, issued $38.6 million Senior Secured Promissory Note (the “Senior Secured Promissory Note”) in favor of Ron P. Corio, our indirect stockholder, that was secured by the outstanding common stock of ATI Investment Holdings, Inc. The maturity due date of the Senior Secured Promissory Note was originally February 22, 2020 but was subsequently amended to extend the due date to September 22, 2020.
The Company paid the remaining outstanding balance and accrued interest on July 31, 2020 to settle the obligation with respect to the Senior Secured Promissory Note.
Prior Term Loan Facility
On June 23, 2016, we entered into a term loan agreement with Jefferies Finance LLC, providing for a term loan in an aggregate amount of $200 million (the “Prior Term Loan Facility”). As of December 31, 2019, the Prior Term Loan Facility had a balance of $57.7 million. The balance of the Prior Term Loan Facility is presented in the accompanying consolidated balance sheet net of debt discount and issuance costs of $1.8 million at December 31, 2019. The Prior Term Loan Facility contains a provision under which a percentage of excess cash flow must be used to pay down the loan. As of December 31, 2019, the excess cash flow provision resulted in the Prior Term Loan Facility being classified as current on the accompanying consolidated balance sheet. On February 7, 2020, the Company repaid the Prior Term Loan Facility in full and settled all obligations with respect to the Prior Term Loan Facility.
Surety Bonds
As of December 31, 2020, we posted surety bonds in the total amount of approximately $121.2 million. We are required to provide surety bonds to various parties as required for certain transactions initiated during the ordinary course of business to guarantee the Company’s performance in accordance with contractual or legal obligations. These off-balance sheet arrangements do not adversely impact our liquidity or capital resources.
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Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Management Estimates
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with 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.
Revenue Recognition 2020 and 2019
The Company recognized revenues from the sale of solar tracking systems and parts and determines its revenue recognition through the following steps: (i) identification of the contract or contracts with a customer; (ii) identification of the performance obligations within the contract; (iii) determination of the transaction price; (iv) allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations within the contract; and (v) recognition of revenue when, or as the performance obligation has been satisfied.
Performance Obligations
The Company’s contracts with customers are predominately accounted for as one performance obligation, as the majority of tasks and services is part of a single project or capability. As these contracts are typically a customized assembly for a customer-specific solution, the Company uses the expected cost-plus margin approach to estimate the standalone selling price of each performance obligation. For contracts with multiple performance obligations, the Company allocates the contract’s transaction price to each performance obligation using its best estimate of the standalone selling price of each distinct good or service in the contract. In assessing the recognition of revenue, the Company also evaluates whether two or more contracts should be combined and accounted for as one contract and if the combined or single contract should be accounted for as multiple performance obligations which could change the amount of revenue and profit (loss) recorded in a period. Change orders may include changes in specifications or design, manner of performance, equipment, materials, scope of work, and/or the period of completion of the project. The Company analyzes its changed orders to determine if they should be accounted for as a modification to an existing contract or a new stand-alone contract. The Company’s change orders are generally modifications to existing contracts and are included in the total estimated contract revenue when it is probable that the change order will result in additional value that can be reliably estimated and realized. The majority of the Company’s contracts do not contain variable consideration provisions as a continuation of the original contract.
The Company’s performance obligations are satisfied predominately over-time as work progresses for its custom assembled solar systems, utilizing an output measure of completed products and based on the timing of the product’s shipments considering the shipping terms described in the contract. In certain situations, when product is still in our custody, and title and risk of loss has passed to the customer (known as bill-and-hold arrangement), revenue will be recognized when all the specific requirements for transfer of control under a bill-and-hold arrangement have been met.
Revenue recognized for the Company’s part sales are recorded at a point in time and recognized when obligations under the terms of the contract with our customer are satisfied. Generally, this occurs with the transfer of control of the asset, which is in line with shipping terms.
Contract Estimates
Accounting for contracts utilizing the over-time method and their expected cost-plus margins is based on various assumptions to project the outcome of future events that can exceed a year. These assumptions include labor productivity and availability; the complexity of the work to be performed; the cost and availability of materials; and the availability and timing of funding from the customer. The Company reviews and updates its contract-related estimates each reporting period. The Company recognizes adjustments in estimated expected cost-plus on contracts under the cumulative catch-up method. Under this method, the impact of the adjustment on profit recorded to date is recognized in the period the adjustment is identified. Revenue and profit in future periods of contract performance is recognized using the adjusted estimate. If at any time the
estimate of contract profitability indicates an anticipated loss on the contract, the Company recognizes the total loss in the period it is identified.
Contract Balances
The timing of revenue recognition, billings and cash collections results in billed accounts receivable, unbilled receivables (contract assets), and deferred revenue (contract liabilities) on the consolidated balance sheet, recorded on a contract-by-contract basis at the end of each reporting period. The majority of the Company’s contract amounts are billed as work progresses in accordance with agreed-upon contractual terms, which generally coincide with the shipment of one or more phases of the project. Billing sometimes occurs subsequent to revenue recognition, resulting in contract assets. The changes in contract assets (i.e. unbilled receivables) and the corresponding amounts recorded in revenue relate to fluctuations in the timing and volume of billings for the Company’s revenue recognized over-time. As of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, contract assets consisting of unbilled receivables totaling $18.1 million and $16.1 million, respectively, were recorded within accounts receivable on the consolidated balance sheet. The Company also receives advances or deposits from its customers, before revenue is recognized, resulting in contract liabilities. The changes in contract liabilities (i.e. deferred revenue) relate to advanced orders and payments received by the Company and are the result of customers looking to take advantage of certain U.S. federal tax incentives set to decrease at the end of 2019. Based on the terms of the tax incentives the customer must pay for the goods prior to December 31, 2019 which accounts for the increase in the advanced orders and payments and the resulting deferred revenue. As of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, contract liabilities consisting of deferred revenue was presented separately on the consolidated balance sheets.
Product Warranty
The Company offers an assurance type warranty for its products against defects in design, materials and workmanship for a period ranging from five to twenty years from customer acceptance. For these assurance type warranties, a provision for estimated future costs related to warranty expense is recorded when they are probable and reasonably estimable, which is typically when products are delivered. This provision is based on historical information on the nature, frequency and average cost of claims for each product line. When little or no experience exists for an immature product line, the estimate is based on comparable product lines. These estimates are re-evaluated on an ongoing basis using best-available information and revisions to estimates are made as necessary.
Inventory Valuation
Inventories consist of raw materials and finished goods. Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or estimated net realizable value using the weighted average method. Provisions are made to reduce excess or obsolete inventories to their estimated net realizable values which require estimates by management.
Contingent Consideration
Tax Receivable Agreement
Concurrent with Former Parent’s acquisition of Patent LLC, Array Tech, Inc. (f/k/a Array Technologies, Inc.) entered into the TRA with Ron P. Corio, our indirect stockholder. The TRA is accounted for as contingent consideration and subsequent changes in fair value of the contingent liability are recognized in general and administrative in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations. The TRA obligations were recorded at acquisition-date fair value at inception and is classified as a liability. The TRA will generally provide for the payment by Array Tech, Inc. (f/k/a Array Technologies, Inc.) to Ron P. Corio, our indirect stockholder, for certain federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax benefits deemed realized in post-closing taxable periods by Array Tech, Inc. (f/k/a Array Technologies, Inc.) from the use of certain deductions generated by the increase in the tax value of the developed technology. Estimating the amount of payments that may be made under the TRA is by nature imprecise. The significant fair value inputs used to estimate the future expected TRA payments to Ron P. Corio include the timing of tax payments, a discount rate, book income projections, timing of expected
adjustments to calculate taxable income and the projected rate of use for attributes defined in the TRA. As of December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, the estimated fair value of the TRA is $19.7 million and $17.8 million, respectively, which has been recorded as a liability. Subsequent changes in fair value of the TRA will be recognized in earnings.
Earn-Out Obligations
Under the Earn-Out Agreement, dated June 23, 2016, by and among ATI Investment Former Parent, LLC, ATI Investment Sub, Inc., Array Technologies, Inc., and the seller parties thereto (the “Earn-Out Agreement”), the Company is required to pay the former stockholders of Array Technologies, Inc., including Ron P. Corio, an indirect stockholder, future contingent consideration consisting of earn-out payments in the form of cash upon the occurrence of certain events, including the consummation of an IPO; the sale, transfer, assignment, pledge, encumbrance, distribution or disposition of shares of Former Parent held by Oaktree Power and Oaktree Investors to a third party; the sale of equity securities or assets of Former Parent, ATI Investment Sub, Inc. or Array Technologies, Inc. to a third-party; or a merger, consolidation, recapitalization or reorganization of Former Parent, ATI Investment Sub, Inc. or the Company. The maximum aggregate earn-out consideration is $25.0 million. During the year ended December 31, 2020 we were required to pay the maximum aggregate earn-out consideration as a result of our IPO, Special Distribution and Follow-on Offering. As a result of the $25.0 million payment we are no longer obligated under the earn-out agreement.
Equity-Based Compensation Expense
The Company accounts for equity grants to employees (Class B units of Former Parent) as stock-based compensation under ASC 718, Compensation-Stock Compensation. The Class B units contain vesting provisions as defined in the agreement. Vested units do not forfeit upon termination and represent a residual interest in Former Parent. Equity-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date fair value and is recognized on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, including those units with graded vesting with a corresponding credit to additional paid-in capital as a capital contribution from Former Parent. However, the amount of equity-based compensation at any date is equal to the portion of the grant date value of the award that is vested.
The Class B units issued to employees are measured at fair value on the grant date using an option pricing model. The Company utilizes the estimated weighted average of the Company’s expected fund life dependent on various exit scenarios to estimate the expected term of the awards. Expected volatility is based on the average of historical and implied volatility of a set of comparable companies, adjusted for size and leverage. The risk-free rates are based on the yields of U.S. Treasury instruments with comparable terms. Actual results may vary depending on the assumptions applied within the model.
On November 19, 2019 and May 19, 2020, Former Parent issued 22,326,653 and 4,344,941, respectively, Class B units to certain employees of the Company. On March 28, 2020, Former Parent issued 1,000 Class C units to a member of the board of directors of Array Technologies, Inc.
Effective October 14, 2020, the Company granted an aggregate of 29,398 restricted stock units (RSU’s) to its non-employee directors in connection with their service on the board of directors and 470,608 RSU’s to certain executives and members of management. The RSU’s were granted under the 2020 Plan at the IPO price of $22.00 per share. Each share has a vesting commencement date of and is subject to a two to three-year vesting schedule, vesting annually on the anniversary date of the vesting commencement date.
For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, the Company recognized $4.8 million and $0.8 million, respectively, in equity-based compensation. At December 31, 2020, the Company had $17.0 million of unrecognized compensation costs related to Class B units and restricted stock units which is expected to be recognized over a period of 3 years. There were no forfeitures during 2019 or 2020. Following the Corporate
Conversion, the Class B Units in Former Parent remained outstanding and were not converted into shares of common stock of the Company.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 2 - Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,’’ in the accompanying notes to our consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements.
JOBS Act Accounting Election
We qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act. An emerging growth company may take advantage of relief from certain reporting requirements and other burdens that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include:
•a requirement to present only two years of audited financial statements and only two years of selected financial data;
•an exemption from compliance with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act;
•reduced disclosure about our executive compensation arrangements in our periodic reports, proxy statements, and registration statements; and
•exemptions from the requirements of holding non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation or golden parachute arrangements.
In addition, under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have elected to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards, and, therefore, we will not be subject to the same new or revised accounting standards at the same time as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies or those that have opted out of using such extended transition period, which may make comparison of our financial statements with such other public companies more difficult. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, or, with respect to adoption of certain new or revised accounting standards, until we irrevocably elect to opt out of using the extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of $1.07 billion or more; (ii) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of our IPO; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three years; and (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer under the rules of the SEC. We may choose to take advantage of some but not all of these reduced reporting burdens.

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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 steel and aluminum prices and customer concentrations. We do not hold or issue financial instruments for trading purposes.
Concentrations of Major Customers
Our customer base consists primarily of solar contractors and utilities. We do not require collateral on our trade receivables. For the year ended December 31, 2020, our largest customer and five largest customers
constituted 11.2% and 40.9% of total revenues, respectively. Two customers, Lightsource Renewable Energy US, LLC and Blattner Energy, Inc., made up 21.5% of revenue and are the only customers greater than 10% of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020. For the year ended December 31, 2019, our largest customer and five largest customers constituted 17.2% and 50.1% of total revenues, respectively. Two customers made up 28.7% of revenue and are the only customers constituting greater than 10% of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2019. The loss of any one of our top five customers could have a materially adverse effect on the revenues and profits of the Company. Further, our trade accounts receivable are from companies within the solar industry and, as such, the Company is exposed to normal industry credit risks. As of December 31, 2020, our largest customer and five largest customers constituted 0.1% and 20.9% of trade accounts receivable, respectively. As of December 31, 2019, our largest customer and five largest customers constituted 29.5% and 69.0% of trade accounts receivable, respectively. We continually evaluate our reserves for potential credit losses and establishes reserves for such losses.
Commodity Price Risk
We are subject to risk from fluctuating market prices of certain commodity raw materials, including steel and aluminum, that 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.
Interest Rate Risk
As of December 31, 2020, our long-term debt totaled $460 million. We have interest rate exposure with respect to the $460.0 million balance due to the variable interest rate. A 50 basis point increase in interest rates would impact our expected annual interest expense for the next 12 months by approximately $2.3 million.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
The financial statements and supplementary data required by this item are included after the Signature page of this Annual Report on Form 10-K beginning on page.

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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
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures.
We maintain “disclosure controls and procedures,” as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is (1) recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and (2) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible 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 as of December 31, 2020. Based upon the evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of such date, our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective at a reasonable assurance level as a result of the material weakness that existed in our internal control over financial reporting as described below.
Material Weakness in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
In connection with the audit of our financial statements as of December 31, 2020, we identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting involving inventory.
This material weakness is in the inventory process related to inventory cut-off. It was noted that we recorded inventory for which we did not hold risk at year-end for inventory in-transit. This risk was initially identified during our audit for fiscal year 2018 and remained as of December 31, 2019. Although we began efforts to remediate this issue immediately upon identification, this issue remained at year end 2020.
We have begun to implement measures designed to improve our internal control over financial reporting to remediate this material weakness, including the following:
•We have taken steps intended to remediate the inventory cut-off material weakness through additional procedures and controls in the inventory and financial statement close processes while working to deploy system enhancements designed to improve the accuracy of inventory reporting. These controls include instituting electronic data interchange with key inventory carriers as well as enhancements in the review process over in-transit inventory.
•We have hired an external consulting firm that specializes in internal controls and internal audit work to assist in the organizational risk assessment, identification of control activities, controls documentation and testing and the enhancement of ongoing monitoring activities related to the internal controls over financial reporting.
These system enhancements and activities are designed to enable us to broaden the scope and quality of our internal review of underlying information related to financial reporting and to formalize and enhance our internal control procedures. With the oversight of senior management and our audit committee, we have begun taking the above steps and plan to take additional measures to remediate the underlying causes of the material weakness.
Remediation Efforts to Address Previously Reported Material Weaknesses in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
In connection with the audit of our financial statements as of and for each of the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, we identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting relating to our financial close process, reconciliation of deferred revenue and unbilled revenue and inventory pricing, specifically due to lack of qualified accounting and finance personnel and lack of system capabilities which resulted in certain material corrections to the financial statements.
In order to address these previously reported material weaknesses, we hired additional accounting and finance personnel with technical accounting and financial reporting experience as well as implemented procedures and controls in the financial statement close process, which include enhanced system capabilities in most areas, enhanced reconciliation controls, enhanced review controls and financial close checklists which ensure all necessary reviews and reconciliations are occurring as designed.
Based on these remediation efforts, management has concluded that the previously reported material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting relating to our financial close process, reconciliation of deferred revenue and unbilled revenue and inventory pricing have been remediated as of December 31, 2020.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.
This Annual Report on Form 10-K does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting.
Other than the implementation of measures described above under Material Weaknesses in Internal Control over Financial Reporting, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 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
On March 8, 2020, the compensation committee of the Board of directors approved certain changes to employment terms applicable to the Company’s named executive officers. A description of these arrangements is filed as exhibit 10.13 filed herewith.
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 this item and not set forth below will be contained in our definitive proxy statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with our 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, or the Proxy Statement, which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the end of our fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, and is incorporated herein by reference.
We have adopted a written Code of Business Conduct that applies to all officers, directors and employees, including our principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions. The Code of Business Conduct is available on our website at www.arraytechinc.com. If we make any substantive amendments to the Code of Business Conduct or grant any waiver from a provision of the Code of Business Conduct to any executive officer or director, we will promptly disclose the nature of the amendment or waiver on our website or in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11. Executive Compensation.
The information required by this item will be set forth in the 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.
The information required by this item will be set forth in the Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

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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 this item will be set forth in the Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The information required by this item will be set forth in the Proxy Statement and is incorporated herein by reference.
PART IV

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules.
(a)(1) Financial Statements.
The financial statements and supplementary data required by this item are included after the Signature page of this Annual Report on Form 10-K beginning on page.
(a)(2) Financial Statement Schedules.
All schedules have been omitted because they are not required or because the required information is given in the Financial Statements or Notes thereto.
(a)(3) Exhibits.
The exhibits listed in the Exhibit Index below are filed or incorporated by reference as part of this Annual Report.
Exhibit Index
Number Description of Document Form Date No.
3.1 Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Array Technologies, Inc., dated October 19, 2020
8-K 10/19/2020 3.1
3.2 Amended and Restated Bylaws of Array Technologies, Inc., dated October 19, 2020
8-K 10/19/2020 3.2
4.1* Description of securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act
4.2 Form of Common Stock Certificate of the Registrant
10.1 Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of October 19 by and among Array Technologies, Inc. and certain holders identified therein
8-K 10/19/2020 10.1
Number Description of Document Form Date No.
10.2 Credit Agreement, dated as of October 14, 2020, by and among Array Technologies, Inc., as borrower, ATI Investment Sub, Inc., as guarantor, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, as administrative agent and collateral agent, and the Lenders (as defined therein) from time to time party thereto
8-K 10/19/2020 10.2
10.3 Amended and Restated ABL Credit and Guarantee Agreement, dated as of March 23, 2020, by and among ATI Investment Holdings, Inc., Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as administrative agent, and the lenders from time to time party thereto
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.1
10.4 Tax Receivable Agreement, dated as of July 8, 2016, between Array Technologies, Inc. and Ron P. Corio
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.3
10.5 Form of Array Technologies, Inc. 2020 Long-Term Incentive Plan
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.4
10.6 Earnout Agreement, dated June 23, 2016, by and among ATI Investment Parent, LLC, ATI Investment Sub, Inc., Array Technologies, Inc., and the seller parties thereto
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.5
10.7 Employment Offer Letter, dated August 7, 2018, between Array Technologies, Inc. and Stuart Bolland
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.6
10.8 Amendment to Employment Offer Letter, dated May 25, 2019, between Array Technologies, Inc. and Stuart Bolland
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.7
10.9 Employment Offer Letter, dated April 25, 2018, between Array Technologies, Inc. and Jim Fusaro
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.8
10.10 Employment Offer Letter, dated December 19, 2016, between Array Technologies, Inc. and Jeff Krantz
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.9
10.11 Amendment to Employment Offer Letter, dated May 23, 2019, between Array Technologies, Inc. and Jeff Krantz
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.10
10.12 Form of Director and Officer Indemnification Agreement
S-1/A 10/14/2020 10.11
10.13* Employment Agreement Terms
10.14* Amendment 1 to Credit Agreement
10.15 Amendment 2 to Credit Agreement
8-K 3/2/2021 10.1
21.1*
List of Subsidiaries of the Registrant
23.1* Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Number Description of Document Form Date No.
31.1* Certification of the Chief Executive Officer, as required by Section 302 of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002 (18 U.S.C. 1350)
31.2* Certification of the Chief Financial Officer, as required by Section 302 of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002 (18 U.S.C. 1350)
32.1** Certification of the Chief Executive Officer, as required by Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (18 U.S.C. 1350)
32.2** Certification of the Chief Financial Officer, as required by Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (18 U.S.C. 1350)
101* Interactive Data Files
104* Cover Page Interactive Data Files
* Filed herewith
** Furnished herewith