K.R. Sridhar
Analyst · America. Julien, your line is open
Hello, everyone. Good day to you. We were delighted to have so many of you join us in-person and through streaming on our Investor Day in May. We were thrilled when we heard back from you on how much you appreciated seeing our innovative technology development, manufacturing excellence, and most importantly, interacting with and experiencing the caliber of our team. We know you left with a better understanding of the power of our platform, its flexibility to rapidly adapt, elect and deploy so many different energy solutions. In this ever-changing energy marketplace and policy environment, the flexibility of our platform is a unique advantage that sets Bloom Energy apart in the energy industry. This diversity and flexibility of our platform is exactly why we are so excited about the Inflation Reduction Act. This act will enable us to play a pivotal role in accelerating the mission to decarbonize the world. Unlike many other energy companies, there are many facets of the acts provisions, where we will be able to participate in a material manner. Let me highlight nine key provisions. One, the hydrogen production credit and a direct pay option for it will greatly accelerate our domestic electrolyzer business. Two, the greater availability of clean hydrogen will create greater demand for Bloom’s, always on high-efficiency hydrogen-powered energy servers. Three, our growing waste to energy segment will get a big lift from the expanded ITC for biogas equipment. Four, the incentive for electric vehicles and their growth will drive demand for our efficient on-site power charging solution. Five, the tax credits for controllers, switchgear and batteries will drive microgrid adoption. Six, the lowering of capture thresholds and the increased credit makes carbon capture with our energy servers very attractive. Seven, the capital equipment in our expanding American factories are eligible for the manufacturing Tax credit. Eight, the increase and the extension of the ITC for our energy servers will strengthen our domestic power business. Nine, the direct pay and transferability features will create greater supply of affordable financing for our US projects. As a company, whose technology was invented in America, whose products are manufactured in America, by American workers, we are thrilled that the Act acknowledges the importance of domestic content through additional bonus features. So you can see I'm sure glad that we designed a flexible platform that has so many ways to help the world decarbonize. And now we have a national policy that will support us. Speaking of the flexible platform, I'm excited to share news on our hydrogen electrolyzer. It is not only great news on its own, but also an illustration of the platform flexibility point I just made. Our pilot demonstration at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory is performing at a greater electrical efficiency than any other commercial product or technology demonstration in the world that we know of, operating at 37.7 kilowatt hours of direct electricity to produce 1 kilogram of hydrogen. It is setting a world record. Yes, a world record. The performance of the Bloom electrolyzer is over 30% better than most commercial low-temperature electrolyzers in operation today. And we are just getting started. It is evident to me that the early markets for hydrogen are going to be one, hard to decarbonize industries like steel, chemicals, cement, et cetera that produce waste heat and use on-site hydrogen. And two, nuclear power plants that have curtailed electricity conditions during portions of the day and excess heat available. Our product performance that is verified by the DOE FIDO National Laboratory, clearly demonstrates the competitive advantage we have over low-temperature electrolyzers in both these market segments. This competitive advantage is why LSB Industries, the leading North American producer of industrial and agricultural chemicals, announced plans to install a 10-megawatt solid oxide electrolyzer from Bloom Energy at their prior Oklahoma facility. When integrated with high temperature processes like ammonia synthesis, which produces extra heat energy, Bloom’s electrolyzers will be more efficient in competing electrolyzer technologies, resulting in lower cost hydrogen for LSB. The clear competitive advantage attainable when combined with nuclear power plants is why Westinghouse Electric Company and Bloom Energy announced signing a Letter of Intent to pursue clean hydrogen production in commercial nuclear power market, the IML demonstration and announcement today should provide greater market momentum going forward. Let me now switch to our waste to power segment. In July, we were recognized by the American Biogas Council for our dairy biogas to electricity project, conducted in collaboration with CalBio. The Biogas Council cited the project for breaking new ground in the US biogas industry and across the global energy landscape, the first to use renewable biogas to make electricity from fuel cells, to power an on-site microgrid and a fleet of electric vehicles. The project also received the 2022 U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award. Our waste-to-energy segment is witnessing solid growth. We are currently developing multiple landfill biogas opportunities, both for the RNG market as well as for electricity generation and the renewable fuels business continues to gain traction with several key development projects utilizing food and agricultural ways. Let me take a moment to touch on the international opportunity. During our last earnings call in May, we spoke about our interest in entering the European market. In June, we announced the installation of 1 megawatt of Bloom servers at the Ferrari headquarters and manufacturing plant in Maranello, Italy. Ferrari, like Bloom Energy has a commitment to uniqueness, innovation, technology leadership and continuous learning that makes them the ideal partner for our entry into the European manufacturing landscape. Bloom Energy's fuel cell platform is a best-in-class solution for a best-in-class luxury automaker. The Bloom Energy servers are expected to cut gas requirements by around 20% from the combined heat and power system now in use at Ferrari, while also reducing emissions. We are showcasing this as a model for other energy-intensive industries in Europe to emulate, a way for them to achieve greater energy security, lower costs and lower carbon footprint, all at the same time and at a time when energy availability, prices and security in Europe are increasingly of great concern. I'd like to close with the market at home. Digitization, electrification of transportation and onshoring of manufacturing are all adding significantly to increased electricity demand at unprecedented rates. So demand for new power is at an all-time high. On the supply side, the decades-long underinvestment in both power capacity expansion and T&D, the age and disrepair of the existing infrastructure, drought-related reduction in hydroelectric output, the loss of capacity from shutting down coal and nuclear power plants are all creating a shortage of supply. This shortage is significantly greater than the pace at which renewables are being added. In this scenario, utilities are not able to provide additional power to large commercial and industrial customers that are demanding more and demanding them more quickly. If you are a company committing millions of dollars to build a new facility, you can't wait for months and even years for the power company to run power lines and connect you to the grid. Only then to see extreme weather effect, your supply of power, shutting down your facility for hours, days, and even weeks. This is an imaginary. It's the reality company is safe in many parts of the US and in Europe, I might add, whether it's a Bloom Energy server, delivered on a SCIT and installed within date or it's a Bloom Energy server power tower in urban settings with very low land needs, our solutions enable customers to solve energy reliability, security, and decarbonization in the manner that best suits their needs with a very quick to power option. Before I turn it over to Greg, let me just say that we are very pleased with our financial results this quarter. We are maintaining financial and operating discipline as we invest in the business while focusing on cost margins and driving towards improved profitability and positive cash flow. With that, let me turn this over to Greg for him to elaborate.