Canadian Solar Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Canadian Solar's fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call. My name is Dilem, and I'll be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the call over to Isabel Zhang, IR Director at Canadian Solar. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. and welcome everyone to Canadian Solar's fourth quarter 2021 conference call. Please note that we have provided slides to accompany today's conference call, which are available on Canadian Solar's investor relations website within the events and presentation section. Joining us today are Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO, Yan Zhuang, President of Canadian Solar's majority-owned subsidiary, CSI Solar, Dr. Huifeng Chang, Senior VP and CFO, and Ismael Guerrero, Corporate VP and President of Canadian Solar's wholly-owned subsidiary Global Energy. All company executives will participate in the Q&A session after management's formal remarks. On this call, Sean will go over some key messages for the quarter. Yen and Ismael will respectively review the highlights of the CSI Solar and Global Energy businesses, followed by Huifeng. who will go through the financial results. Sean will conclude the prepared remarks with the business outlook, after which we will have time for questions. Before we begin, may I remind listeners that management's prepared remarks today, as well as their answers to questions, will contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainty. The company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements that is contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ from management's current expectations, Any projections of the company's future performance would present management's estimates as of today. Canadian Solar assumes no obligation to update these projections in the future unless otherwise required by applicable law. A more detailed discussion of the risks and uncertainties can be found in the company's annual report on Form 20-F, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Management's prepared remarks will be presented within the requirements of SEC Regulation G regarding generally accepted accounting principles or GAAP. Some financial information presented during the call will be provided on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. By disclosing certain non-GAAP information, management intends to provide investors with additional information to permit further analysis of a company's performance and underlying trends. Management uses non-GAAP measures to better assess operating performance and to establish operational goals. Non-GAAP information should not be viewed by investors as a substitute for data prepared in accordance with GAAP. And now I would like to turn the call over to Canadian Solar's chairman and CEO, Dr. Shawn Chi. Shawn, please go ahead.

Thank you, Isabelle. And thank you, everyone, for joining us on our call today. Now please turn to the slide number three. I'm very pleased to report that Canadian Solar grew revenue over 50%. for the full year 2021 to our record 5.3 billion US dollars. Improved growth margin through the year to 17.2% for the full year and achieved diluted earnings per share of $1.46. When I think back to where the company has come from, it is humbling. Over the past decade, we have been consistently one of the top module companies and our brand stands for excellence worldwide. Importantly, we continue to work on creating sustainable value for our shareholders, both in up and down markets. In addition to our record revenue in 2021, We delivered 14.5 gigawatts in solar module shipments, nearly 900 megawatt hour of battery storage shipments, and 2.1 gigawatts in project cells. It is important to note that as we grow, we continue to diversify and strengthen Canadian solar. The fact that we have gone from zero to nearly 900 megawatt hours of battery storage shipments over such a short period showcases the strength and determination of our company. This success is just one of the many opportunities that make us so excited about Canadian solar's long-term business prospects. Now please turn to slide four. I'm also pleased to report that we remain on track with the carve-out IPO of CSI Solar. In December, CSI Solar received approval from the Star Market of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. for its proposed IPO. We are currently going through the registration process with the China Securities Regulatory Commission in line with usual procedures. In the meantime, we have started roadshows with strategic investors and the feedback has been encouraging. We believe the listing will be another important development, as it will help us capture additional profitable growth opportunities and further unlock value for our shareholders. Please turn to slide five. One of our mission is to build a better and more sustainable future, as we explained it in our last ESG report. As a renewable energy company, we help our customers transit to clean energy and reduce their reliance on carbon. Internally, we are leading the way as we reduce our energy and water intensity, increase our use of recyclable materials and minimize our impact on the environment. Our culture has always been to put people first and treat everyone with dignity. This extends beyond our company to everyone we interact with in the supply chain, customers, and partners. I have said this before, but I would like to reiterate that Canadian solar does not tolerate forced labor, or any form of modern slavery and is committed to ensuring that modern slavery does not take place anywhere in our business, including our supply chain. We achieved this through establishing policies and procedures. We have also established implementation measures and a verification mechanisms to ensure that our policies and procedures are effective. I encourage you to review these policies, which are publicly available on the governance section of our investor relationships website, and we welcome your feedback. All suppliers have signed on to our supplier code of conduct. which is also available on our website. And we have been carrying out supplier audits. These are just a few examples of the initiatives we have taken to ensure we stay true to our culture of respect and dignity. This is a priority for us at all levels of the company. Please turn to slide six. Before turning the call over to Yan, I would like to comment on the increased awareness of energy security. Energy demand is outstripping supply worldwide at a critical time when COVID still lingering and supply constraints occur across almost all industries. There's no way of getting around this. But with the cost of oil and gas and many other materials reaching new highs and with an ongoing war, solar is once again at the forefront of solutions. We must move and move faster to install more solar systems. Renewable is the only choice given climate change. and the need for energy security. Technology advances like our high efficiency panels and our state of art battery storage system will lead the way to a brighter future. This is the right thing to do for our company and for future generations. We remain committed as global citizens and will continue to invest in R&D to support our vision of increased energy access and energy security. Let me now turn over the call to Yan. Yan, please go ahead.