RemovedRisk Factors
The economic benefits of our Energy Server systems to our customers depend on both the price of gas available from the local gas utilities and the cost of electricity available from alternative sources, including local electric utility companies, and such cost structure is subject to change.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedRisk Factors
We believe that the customer’s decision to purchase our Energy Server system is significantly influenced by its price, the price predictability of electricity generated by our Energy Server systems in comparison to the retail price, and the future price outlook of electricity from the local utility grid and other energy sources. These prices are subject to change and may affect the relative benefits of our Energy Server systems. Factors that could influence these prices and are beyond our control include the impact of energy conservation initiatives that reduce electricity consumption; construction of additional power generation plants (including renewables, storage, nuclear, coal or natural gas); technological developments by others in the electric power industry; the imposition of interconnection, “departing load,” “standby,” power factor charges, greenhouse gas emissions charges, or other charges by local electric utility or regulatory authorities; and changes in the rates offered by local electric utilities and/or in the applicability or amounts of charges and other fees imposed or incentives granted by such utilities on customers. In addition, even with available subsidies for our products, in those areas where the current cost of grid electricity is low, including in some states in the U.S. and some foreign countries, our Energy Server systems may not be economically attractive.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedRisk Factors
Furthermore, actual or perceived potential increases in the price of natural gas or other fuels or curtailment of availability (e.g., as a consequence of physical limitations or adverse regulatory conditions for the delivery or production of natural gas or other fuels) or the inability to obtain natural gas or other fuel services could make our Energy Server systems less economically attractive to potential customers and reduce demand. While our Energy Server systems can operate using hydrogen or biofuels, the availability and current high cost of those natural gas alternatives in a particular location may make them less attractive to potential customers, reducing the demand for our products.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedRisk Factors
We need to reduce the manufacturing costs for our products to expand our markets. Additionally, certain of our existing service contracts rely on projections regarding service cost reductions that may not be realized. Increases in component and raw material costs could offset our cost-cutting efforts, slowing our growth and causing our financial results and operational metrics to suffer. In the past, we have experienced price increases in raw materials, which are used in our components and subassemblies for our fuel cell products.
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RemovedMD&A
Our mission is to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world. We developed the first large-scale, commercially viable solid oxide fuel cell based power generation platform that empowers businesses, essential services, critical infrastructure and communities to responsibly take charge of their energy.
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Our technology, invented and manufactured in the U.S., is one of the most advanced electricity and hydrogen producing technologies on the market today. Our fuel-flexible Bloom Energy Server systems can use biogas, hydrogen, natural gas, or a blend of fuels to create resilient, reliable and sustainable power at typically significantly higher efficiencies than traditional, combustion-based resources. In addition, the same fuel cell based platform that powers our Energy Server systems can be used to create hydrogen with our Bloom Electrolyzer. Hydrogen is increasingly recognized as a critically important tool for the decarbonization of the energy economy. Our enterprise customers include some of the largest multinational corporations in the world. We also have relationships with some of the largest utility companies in the U.S. and the Republic of Korea, with a growing presence in various international markets in Europe and Asia.
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At Bloom Energy, we look forward to a net-zero future. Our technology is designed to help enable this future by delivering reliable, low-carbon electricity in a world facing unacceptable levels of power disruptions. Our resilient solid oxide fuel cell platform has kept electricity available for our customers through hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons, forest fires, extreme heat and grid failures. Unlike traditional combustion power generation, our platform is community-friendly — emitting no noise, installed on movable skids and designed to significantly reduce emissions of criteria air pollutants. Our Energy Server systems provide electricity using natural gas, biofuels or hydrogen as feedstock and have applications that can provide both heat and power as well as enable carbon capture. We provide energy solutions that help organizations obtain reliable, resilient, lower emissions power today, thereby supporting net-zero objectives.
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We market and sell our Energy Server systems primarily through our direct sales organization in the U.S. and in certain international markets. We also work with utilities to offer our energy solutions to their end customers, which can be either in front of the meter or on-site. Recognizing that deploying our solutions requires significant financial commitment, we have developed a number of financing options to support sales of our Energy Server systems to customers who may prefer to finance the acquisition using third-party financing and ownership.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedMD&A
Our typical target commercial or industrial customer has historically been either an investment-grade entity or a customer with investment-grade attributes such as size, assets and revenue, liquidity, geographically diverse operations and general financial stability. Given that our customers are typically large institutions with multi-level decision-making processes, we generally experience a lengthy sales process. Once the sale is completed, we are able to deploy our Energy Server systems in a matter of months, subject to permitting requirements. We have a large multi-disciplinary team to facilitate the deployment of our projects in a wide variety of locations under a myriad of regulatory environments.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedMD&A
We continue to innovate our solid oxide platform to offer energy solutions to our customers. In February 2024, we announced our Be FlexibleTM offering which introduced load following capabilities on our Bloom Energy Server system to enable customers and utilities to meet variable electricity load and demand. We believe that our Be Flexible offering is critical for data centers, as their power needs typically vary widely throughout the day. Our products are also designed to work with existing carbon capture utilization and storage (“CCUS”) and combined heat and power (“CHP”) technologies offered by third parties. CCUS can mitigate emissions from natural gas as an Energy Server system generates a relatively pure stream of CO2 that can be used or sequestered. In our experience, CCUS is an important capability for customers who need reliable power beyond what can be provided by renewable sources, while also reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. CHP allows the exhaust heat generated by an Energy Server system to be channeled and made available for use, including for heating and cooling, further increasing the efficiency of the system. This capability is important to data centers and other large power users seeking to repurpose generated heat to improve efficiency.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedMD&A
power solutions. At the same time, ongoing natural gas supply and pricing concerns due to geopolitical stresses, as well as customers’ interest in meeting sustainability targets, have led to increased caution from potential customers in their buying decision for energy solutions. Increasing demand for power has forced utilities, states and countries to revisit less clean sources of baseload and intermediate power, which our technology is designed to replace. This supply and demand mismatch globally has threatened energy security, reliability, and availability.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedMD&A
Many data center customers and other large power users have signed exclusivity arrangements with their utilities, and this often creates a more complicated dynamic for them to move to an on-site solution. The rising cost of natural gas in some locations, increases in gas distribution rates, limited availability of natural gas supply, as well as disruptions to the world’s gas markets, has increased the cost of our power solutions for customers and, in certain cases where there is a lack of fuel supply, a complete inability to operate the systems. In the U.S., the lack or slow development of pipeline infrastructure in the past has impacted the timing of customers being able to take advantage of our power solution opportunities. In certain jurisdictions in the U.S. and Europe, natural gas bans have prevented the use of our power solutions unless alternative fuels are available.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedMD&A
In addition, many of our potential data center and industrial customers are pursuing greenfield opportunities where the development cycle is long and laden with permitting requirements, and the uncertainty of these factors is leading to a more complex customer decision-making process and longer sales cycles. Data center greenfield projects require significant investments in real estate, facility costs, and technology, among other elements, in addition to the investment in our power solutions, and the timing and sequencing of those investments is largely outside of our control.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
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Increases in Demand for Power, Driven by Data Centers and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Demand for power has continued to significantly outpace the available power generation supply from the grid, with the need for power becoming more acute in 2024. Key factors driving the increasing demand include the transition towards the electrification of transportation and buildings, the rapid adoption of AI that has led to the expansion of existing data centers and plans for new greenfield data centers, and Federal incentives for domestic manufacturing, including semiconductor and battery production. These factors along with economic growth have put significant stress on the supply from the grid and has led companies to consider on-site distributed power, including Bloom Energy Server systems, to meet their power needs.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new
RemovedMD&A
Bloom Energy Server system, required interconnection studies and lengthy interconnection queues may remain, eroding the time to power value proposition.
Read it in 10-K Feb 27, 2025 at sec.govopen_in_new