Bloom Energy Corporation

Good afternoon and welcome to the Bloom Energy Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on Bloom Energy's second quarter 2021 earnings conference call. To supplement this conference call, we furnished our Q2 2021 earnings press release with the SEC on Form 8K and have posted it along with supplemental financial information that we will periodically reference throughout this call to our investor relations website. The matters that we will be discussing today include forward-looking statements regarding future events and our future financial performance. These include statements about the company's business results, products, new markets, strategy, financial position, liquidity, and full-year outlook for 2021. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties as discussed in detail in our documents filed with the SEC from time to time including our most recently filed forms 10-K and 10-Q. These documents identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to revise any forward-looking statements made on today's call. During this call and in our Q2 2021 earnings press release, we refer to GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and are in addition to and not a substitute for or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation between the GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures is included in our Q2 2021 earnings press release available on our investor relations website. On the call today are K.R. Sridhar, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, and Greg Cameron, Chief Financial Officer. K.R. will begin with an overview of business highlights from the quarter. Greg will review the operating and financial highlights of the quarter, and after the prepared remarks, they will take questions. I will now turn the call over to K.R.

Good day, and thank you very much for joining us on the call. I'll share my thoughts on the state of the energy market and our company progress before turning it over to Greg. From a big picture perspective, the three key attributes that matter when it comes to energy and electricity are resiliency, sustainability, and cost predictability. Here are the trends that we see in the marketplace with respect to these value propositions. First, on resiliency. They're all experiencing and witnessing the increased frequency with which natural disasters are impacting our everyday life. These events around the world cause major disruptions to energy supply and availability. Their adverse impact on businesses' ability to operate lingers for a prolonged period of time after the disaster strikes. In the United States, a 2021 report on commercial and industrial power reliability states that 44% of companies reported that they lost power at least once a month. This is double the number of outages from just two years ago. The situation worldwide is even worse. The World Bank's research shows that on a global basis, companies experienced 2.42 power outages in a typical month in 2019, and that number ballooned to 6.19 power outages per month in 2020. That is a 155% increase in just one year. Contrast this to the 117 microgrids Bloom Energy had operational in 2020. Our microgrid site locations experienced several hundred utility grid power outages during 2020, and blue microgrids protected our customers from business disruption over 99% of the time. Now, to the second value proposition, sustainability. The World Wildlife Federation's Power Forward 4.0 report extract the commitments of companies to sustainability and decarbonization. We are seeing a dramatic shift in the efforts businesses are making to decarbonize their footprint. In 2020, 60% of Fortune 500 companies set a climate or energy-related commitment. Of that nearly 300 companies, 83% are setting net zero carbon emission goals with aggressive timelines. Businesses are leading the way and not waiting for regulation to kick in. As companies look for ways to meet their science-based targets, the Bloom Energy Platform, with its flexible fuel approach of low leakage natural gas, biogas, or hydrogen, can offer a practical solution that works now and a future-proof pathway to satisfy their sustainability commitments for years to come while simultaneously enhancing their resiliency and business continuity needs. Now, let's turn to cost predictability. Here are a few facts about the rate structure for electricity. and regulatory framework mandate that costs associated with building, reconstructing, operating, and upgrading the grid are shouldered by power consumers. In the future, our nation's aging grid will need expensive updates to be resilient to climate-related disasters. More generation assets will need to come online to enable electrification of transportation, and stranded assets like coal and aging nuclear will be decommissioned and replaced by newer and cleaner alternatives. All of these developments will come with big price tags and lead to steep and unpredictable escalations of utility prices for consumers. Contrast that to Bloom. Over the years, we have demonstrated our ability to reduce our costs and offer lower electricity prices to our customers. We are committed to and confident of continuing this trend. Our behind the meter, always on Bloom solution offers cost predictability. Our customers can lock in their electricity tolling rates with us for up to 20 years. So as costs of grid-based electricity increases, our costs are coming down. While the cost of grid-based electricity is unpredictable, we offer firm and predictable tolling rates. I believe these facts underscore Bloom's core value as a solution provider in this transforming energy space. I see this as a perfect opportunity for Bloom Energy, and we are well positioned to seize it and grow. We executed well in the first half of the year and delivered on our promise of resiliency, cost predictability, and sustainability. Now, I want to talk about our year-to-date progress and key investments. We are confident in our solutions and the value they offer our customers. That is why we are putting our capital to work and investing now to enable future growth, fulfill future demand, and further advance our technology leadership. These investments will create long-term value for our shareholders. The two important investment areas I want to focus on are technology leadership and people and infrastructure. Let me start with technology leadership. In our hydrogen product development, just a few weeks ago, we unveiled the Bloom electrolyzer, the most energy-efficient electrolyzer to produce clean hydrogen to date that is up to 45% more efficient than any other product on the market today. This is not a concept, but a reality. It is a functioning electrolyzer and a major leap forward for our company and the hydrogen economy. It relies on the same commercially proven and proprietary solid oxide technology platform used by Bloom Energy servers to provide on-site electricity at high fuel efficiency. It offers unique advantages for deployment across a broad variety of hydrogen applications using multiple energy sources, including intermittent renewable energy and excess or waste heat. Given its efficiency and input options to make hydrogen, Bloom Energy's electrolyzer is expected to produce hydrogen through electrolysis at a lower price than any alternative on the market today. Our efforts in hydrogen also include a partnership with Heliogen to produce clean hydrogen from water using only solar-based heat and electricity. In keeping with our sustainability values, last week we announced that we will convert our entire global natural gas fleet to certified low-leak natural gas to prevent the release of harmful methane emissions stemming from upstream gas production. Bloom Energy, beginning with this initiative, hopes to catalyze a robust certified gas marketplace that is primed for widespread adoption. The goal of this program is to make it easy for consumers to procure low-leak natural gas in the market. Bloom Energy will launch a campaign to urge all large users of natural gas to demand and purchase this environmentally responsible option from their suppliers, thereby sending a market signal to the gas supply chain to avoid methane leaks. We think of this as the equivalent of fair trade coffee and conflict-free minerals, and it is critically important to our commitment to being a sustainable company. Our progress in the marine marketplace also continues. as we announced the achievement of two key milestones on our path to decarbonize a centuries-old maritime industry. Our initial design with Samsung Heavy Industries for an engine-less fuel cell-powered liquefied natural gas carrier has received approval in principle from DNV, a premier international maritime classification society. We were also verified as an alternative power source for vessels as part of the American Bureau of Shipping, new technology qualification service. We are committed to the marine sector and are investing today to be the market leader in this segment. In biogas, we have deployed Bloom Energy servers that use landfill biogas with a major Silicon Valley-based technology company. The system is operational, and we'll share more about our biogas developments in the months ahead. And we announced a first combined heat and power project in collaboration with SK EcoPlant. This is a new 4.2 megawatt installation and marks South Korea's first ever utility-scale solid oxide fuel cell CHP initiative. And construction will begin this year on this project. Now, let me turn briefly to our investments in people and our infrastructure. Since the start of the pandemic, Bloom has increased its total number of jobs by more than 20%. Additional hires in sales and marketing will create more demand. The hires in operations will fulfill this demand, and our increased R&D headcount will accelerate our innovations. We have expanded our headquarters in San Jose and opened offices in Dubai and Japan, adding critical sales and support staff to extend our international reach and presence. One hire in particular that I'm excited and want to welcome to the company is Billy Brooks, who is our new Executive Vice President, Sales for the Americas. Prior to joining Bloom Energy, Billy served as the Executive Director of Business Development at NextEra Energy, Inc., a provider of clean energy solutions and services. where he oversaw the development of utility-scale solar generation assets. And he was key energy executive with General Electric in the United States and abroad, including CEO of Latin America, head of global sales, and chief commercial officer. Welcome, Billy. I want to emphasize that we are making progress on our over three football field size manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, which will enhance our production capability and be the factory where our 7.5 fuel cell columns are made. These developments and investments reflect our confidence in our future and our focus on growth. With that, let me turn it over to Greg, who will go through the financials.