Canadian Solar Inc.

earnings call. My name is May and I will be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are in 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 Wino Wong, Head of Investor Relations of Canadian Dollar. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and welcome everyone to Canadian Solar's first quarter 2024 conference call. Please note that today's conference call is accompanied with slides which are available on Canadian Solar's Investor Relations website within the events and presentation section. Joining us today are Dr. Shawn Hsu, Chairman and CEO, Yan Zhuang, President of Canadian Solar subsidiary CSI Solar, Ismael Guerrero, Corporate VP and President of Canadian Solar Subsidiary Recurring Energy, Dr. Huifeng Chen, Senior VP and CFO, and Simbo Zhu, who will be taking over the CFO position on May 15, 2024. 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, Yan and Ismael will review business highlights for CSI Solar and Recurrent Energy, respectively, and Huifeng will go through the financial results. Sean will conclude the prepared remarks with a business outlook, after which we will have time for questions. Before we begin, I would like to 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 uncertainties. The company claims protection under 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 represent management 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 risks and uncertainties can be found in the company's annual report on Form 20-S, 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 non-GAAP basis. By disclosing certain non-GAAP information, management intends to provide investors with additional information to enable further analysis of the 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. Sean Hughes. John, please go ahead.

Thank you, Wina, and thank you to everyone for joining us, for joining our first quarter call today. Please turn to slide three. We delivered strong results in line with our guidance. In the first quarter of 2024, we delivered 6.3 gigawatts of solar module shipments, realizing revenue of $1.3 billion, and an improved growth margin of 19%. As we have mentioned in the past, our priority is to drive high-quality, profitable growth. That means, at times, foregoing low-priced deals. In a challenging environment, our significant recovery in margin from that of last year's final quarter underscores our resilience. Indeed, with respect to our module business, we are at a very difficult point in the cycle. Fierce competition is creating immense near-term headwinds for the industry. However, I hope we will see improvement in the second half as the market rationalizes. Demand continues to be strong and we are seeing signs of improvement in distributed generation market and certain regions. While prices have stabilized, we remain at historically low levels. In April, During my presentation at Harvard University, I discussed how advances in generative artificial intelligence are expected to boost electricity demand and how solar coupled with energy storage is well equipped to support AI development. For example, in the US, a one kilowatt solar system can generate approximately 4 kilowatt hours of electricity daily on average. Paired with a 2 kilowatt hour lithium battery energy storage system, this system can shift half of the electricity generated for nighttime use, creating a reliable and controllable energy supply around the clock. The resulting levelized cost of electricity can be as low as $0.07 per kilowatt hour, competitive with fossil fuels, even without accounting the carbon credits. As AI development accelerates, it is crucial that we do not compromise our climate change objectives, ensuring that The surge in electricity demand is sourced from clean energy. The world is quickly evolving, and we are instrumental in driving these changes. Amidst a dynamic industry landscape, we are deploying tailored strategies across our increasingly diverse business. In our module business, we focus on achieving profitable growth, increasing our market share in key strategic markets. At Recurrent Energy, we are in the process of finalizing the BlackRock investment and advancing our extensive pipeline of solar and battery energy storage projects. At the same time, Our e-storage platform is experiencing rapid growth as we secure contracts in new markets and enhance our proprietary technologies for both utility scale and residential applications. Next, I would like to discuss our progress and achievements in environmental, social, and governance practices. Please turn to slide four. Today, differentiation in our industry takes many forms. Our customers and partners ranging from financial institutions to sophisticated project developers and utility companies are increasingly focused on ESG. Operating transparently and sustainably yields substantial commercial impact, and here our leadership is evident. Highlighting just two of our recent achievements, we were awarded a Silver Rating by Ecovades, one of the world's largest and most trusted providers of business sustainability ratings. Canadian solar scored especially high in the environmental and sustainable procurement categories, placing in the top fives of companies rated by EcoVadis in our industry. We are also pleased to win for the second time Environmental Finance Green Project Bond of the Year awarded for our 120 million US dollar green Samurai private placement. The award recognizes our innovative financing strategies in our global development business. We look forward to sharing more details in our upcoming annual sustainability report, which we expect to release in coming weeks. Lastly, I would like to address the concerns regarding the recent filed anti-dumping and countervailing duty petition. Well, we will not speculate about ongoing cases. I want to convey our confidence in the face of any political, any potential challenges that may arise. We have been navigating similar cases for over a decade and have time and time again managed risk effectively on behalf of both of our company and our customers and partners. Furthermore, as Thailand is both a WTO member and a market economy, it likely faces lower ADCVD risks. Our local leadership and professional cross-functional teams are among our key competitive edges. As a Canadian company with a plan to invest over $1 billion in new manufacturing in US, we hope to continue playing our part in ensuring a long-term and resilient domestic solar supply chain. With that, let me turn the call over to Yan, who will provide more details on our CSI solar business. Yan, please go ahead. Thank you, Sean.