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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

☐       REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

x       ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019

OR

☐       TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ____________ to __________.

OR

☐       SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of event requiring this shell company report _____________

Commission file number: 001-37678

SPI Energy Co., Ltd.
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

N/A
(Translation of Registrant’s name into English)

Cayman Islands
(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

#1128, 11/F, No. 52 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon,
Hong Kong SAR, China
(Address of principal executive offices)

Xiaofeng Peng, Chief Executive Officer
4677 Old Ironsides Drive, Suite 190,

Santa Clara, CA 95054

Telephone: +1 408-919-8000
Fax: +1 888-633-0309

Email: denton.peng@spigroups.com

(Name, Telephone, E-mail and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act.

None
(Title of Class)

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act.

None
(Title of Class)

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

14,837,469 ordinary shares as of June 29, 2020

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

☐ Yes     x No

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

☐ Yes      x No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

☐ Yes     x No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

x Yes     ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

† The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow.

☐ Item 17      ☐ Item 18

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

☐ Yes     x No

Explanatory Note

As a result of the global outbreak of the COVID-19, SPI Energy Co., Ltd. (the “Company”) was unable to meet the original filing deadline of this Annual Report on Form 20-F (the “Annual Report”). The Company’s business and facilities are located in Australia, Italy, US, Greece, Hong Kong and Japan. In order to avoid the risk of the virus spreading, the Company has been following the recommendations of local health authorities to minimize exposure risk for its employees, including the temporary closures of its corporate offices, having employees work remotely and travel restrictions or suspension. As a result, the Annual Report could not be completed by the original filing deadline.

Because the outbreak of COVID-19 prevented the Company from filing the Annual Report on a timely basis, the Company relied on the order issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission dated March 25, 2020 (Release No. 34-88465) (the “SEC Order”), providing conditional relief to public companies that are unable to timely comply with their filing obligations as a result of the outbreak of COVID-19 and extending the original due date by 45 days as permitted by the SEC Order.

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CONVENTIONS THAT APPLY TO THIS ANNUAL REPORT

Unless otherwise indicated and except where the context otherwise requires, references in this annual report on Form 20-F to:

Names of certain companies in this annual report are translated or transliterated from their original Chinese legal names.

Discrepancies in any table between the amounts identified as total amounts and the sum of the amounts listed therein are due to rounding.

Share and per share amounts reflect a one-for-ten reverse stock split that took place in November 2017 and a one-for-ten reverse stock split that took place on November 2018.

The conversion of amounts of Australian Dollars, Euros and Renminbi, respectively, into U.S. dollars in this annual report, made solely for the convenience of readers, is based on the noon buying rates in the city of New York for cable transfers of Australian Dollars, Euros, British Pounds, Japanese Yen and Renminbi, respectively, as certified for customs purposes by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as of December 31, 2019, which was AUD 0.7030 to $1.00, EUR0.8907 to $1.00, GBP0.7536 to $1.00, JPY108.67 to $1.00 and RMB6.9618 to $1.00, respectively, unless indicated otherwise. No representation is intended to imply that the Australian Dollar, Euro, British Pounds, Japanese Yen or Renminbi could have been, or could be, converted, realized or settled into U.S. dollars at the foregoing rates or any other rate.

PART I

Safe Harbor

This annual report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019, and information we provide in our press releases, telephonic reports and other investor communications, including those on our website, contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), which are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. All statements in this annual report on Form 20-F, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made pursuant to safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

The forward-looking statements include statements, among other things, with respect to anticipated future events, including anticipated trends and developments in and management plans for our business and the markets in which we operate and plan to operate; future financial results, operating results, revenues, gross profit, operating expenses, projected costs, and capital expenditures; sales and marketing initiatives; competitive position; and liquidity, capital resources, and availability of future equity capital on commercially reasonable terms.

Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as “expect,” “plan,” “will,” “may,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “should,” “intend,” “forecast,” “project” the negative or plural of these words, and other comparable terminology. Our forward-looking statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and our projections about future events. All forward-looking statements included in this annual report on Form 20-F are based upon information available to us as of the filing date of this annual report on Form 20-F. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements for any reason.

We have identified factors that could cause actual plans or results to differ materially from those included in any forward looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These factors include the matters discussed in the section entitled “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this annual report on Form 20-F. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described under this section.

ITEM 1.                    IDENTITY OF DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND ADVISERS

Not Applicable.

ITEM 2.                    OFFER STATISTICS AND EXPECTED TIMETABLE

Not Applicable.

ITEM 3.                    KEY INFORMATION

Our Selected Consolidated Financial Data

The following selected consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2018 and 2019 are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this annual report. The selected consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2016 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015, 2016 and 2017 are derived from our audited consolidated financial statements not included in this annual report. The selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with, and are qualified in their entirety by reference to, our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects” included elsewhere in this annual report. Our consolidated financial statements are prepared and presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or U.S. GAAP. The historical results are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected in any future periods.

On January 1, 2017, we deconsolidated Sinsin Renewable Investment Limited, a Malta company (“Sinsin”) due to loss of control.

On December 10, 2018, the SPI China (HK) Limited and all China business were divested.

* The China business was discontinued operations after the disposal, the consolidated statements of operations data for the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2017 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2015, 2016 and 2017 were reclassified to conform to current year presentation, while the consolidated statements of operations for the years ended December 31, 2015 was not reclassified as management considered it not cost-effective to do so.

**The shares are presented on a retroactive basis to reflect the Company’s Reverse Stock Splits.

Exchange Rate Information

Not Applicable.

Not Applicable.

Not Applicable.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations are subject to various changing business, competitive, economic, political and social conditions worldwide. In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this annual report, the following are some of the important factors that could adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and business prospects, and cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

Risks Related to Our Business and Industry

We have incurred net losses, experienced net cash outflows from operating activities and recorded working capital deficit. If we do not effectively manage our cash and other liquid financial assets and execute our liquidity plan, we may not be able to continue as a going concern.

We incurred net losses of $91.0 million, $12.3 million and $15.1 million in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. We had an accumulated deficit of $585.4 million as of December 31, 2019. We also had a working capital deficit of $113.5 million as of December 31, 2019. In addition, we have substantial amounts of debts that became due in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Historically, we have relied primarily on cash from our operations, bank borrowings, private placements and financial leases to fund our operations. We expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents and cash flows from operating and financing activities will be sufficient to meet our anticipated working capital requirements and capital expenditure for at least the next 12 months, but generally inadequate to pursue new project acquisition or development initiatives without additional capital. The timing and amount of our working capital and capital expenditure requirements may vary significantly depending on numerous factors, such as the timeliness of payments from our customers. We have filed liens to secure customer payments for each of our solar projects, but there is no assurance that such payments will be timely collected. We have also enhanced our collection efforts and undertaken various measures to collect outstanding payments from customers, damages from legal actions and other payments due to us. The volatility and potential deterioration of the PV market conditions and the overall global economies have also added uncertainties regarding the sustainability of the PV industry and adverse impact on the demand for our products. Without access to sufficient level of capital from operations or through bank borrowings or other sources, we may not be able to execute our growth strategy or pursue additional projects, or may not even be able to continue as a going concern. These doubts and uncertainties may create concerns for our creditors, suppliers, customers and other counterparties, and cause them to make it more difficult for us to raise our financing, conduct our business and meet our debt and other obligations.

The report of our independent registered public accounting firm on our financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2019 includes discussions on our ability to continue as a going concern. Although we have formulated a liquidity plan as summarized under Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this annual report, we cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully execute this liquidity plan. The amount of liquidity that we need may be greater than we currently anticipate as a result of additional factors and events beyond our control, such as global economic slowdown, continued downturn in the global PV market, potential financial crises globally or in any region where we conduct a significant portion of our business, changes in the regulatory and business environments, including international trade-related sanctions, which may prevent us from operating normally or from effectively competing in the PV industry. All of these and other factors and occurrences may increase our cash requirements and make us unable to satisfy our liquidity requirements and we may, as a result, be unable to continue as a going concern.

We have revised the assumptions underlying our existing operating plans and recognized the fact that additional actions were needed to reposition our operations to minimize our cash outflows. Therefore, we are undertaking a number of initiatives in order to conserve or generate cash on an incremental basis in 2019. For a detailed discussion of these initiatives and strategies, please see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—B. Liquidity and Capital Resources— Capital Resources and Material Known Facts on Liquidity.”

However, there is no assurance that these initiatives and strategies will be successfully implemented, or even if successfully implemented, our cash position and our operational efficiency will be improved. In the event that our business initiatives and strategies do not achieve the expected results, our business, financial conditions, results of operations and liquidity position may be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we have identified several business related risk factors, such as compliance with laws and regulations, contingent liabilities arising from litigations, suspected related party transactions and unusual transactions, which could cause cash position to further deteriorate.

We are in default on a number of our obligations, which could result in our being forced to cease operations if we are unable to reach satisfactory settlement with applicable counterparties.

We have outstanding convertible bonds of $55.0 million under a convertible bond agreement (“Convertible Bond Agreement”) with certain bond holders, which were defaulted in June 2016 and not repaid through December 31, 2017. On February 12, 2017, we entered into the first amendment agreement (the “1st Amendment”) with Union Sky Holding Group Limited (“Union Sky”), one of the holders of our convertible bonds, to extend the maturity date of the bonds, pursuant to which the repayment of US$6.6 million, US$6.7 million and US$6.7 million of the principal amount of the convertible bond were due by April 30, 2017, January 30, 2018 and January 30, 2019, respectively. Union Sky has the option to convert those outstanding amounts under the Convertible Bond Agreement and its 1st Amendment into the equity interest in our company at a conversion price of $1.372 per share. We were not able to make the first payment as of April 29, 2017. We have been in communications with the holders of our convertible bonds, including Union Sky, to further extend the maturity date of the bonds, and subsequently on June 29, 2018, the Company entered into another amendment agreement (the “2nd Amendment”) with the Union Sky and Magical Glaze Limited (the “MGL”), a company incorporated under the laws of British Virgin Islands, pursuant to which the Union Sky transferred all the rights and obligations under the Convertible Bond Agreement and 1st Amendment to MGL, and the maturity date of such bond was extended. According to the 2nd Amendment, the repayments of US$6.6 million, US$6.7 million and US$6.7 million of the principal amount of the bond and interest thereon should be due by December 2019, June 2020 and December 2020, respectively. As of the date of this annual report, we missed the December 2019 repayment and expect to miss the June 2020 repayment. We have been working on negotiating a third amendment to the Convertible Bond Agreement but have not yet obtained a further extension from the bond holders.

If we are unable to enter into settlement arrangements with all of the parties with whom we are in default, we could be forced to cease operations.

Certain minority stockholders of Solar Juice Pty Ltd (“Solar Juice Australia”), our 80% owned subsidiary in Australia, took certain actions that, if effective, would result in us owning only a minority interest in Solar Juice Australia, which would mean that we no longer have control of Solar Juice Australia and no longer be able to consolidate its financial results into our financial statements.

In May, 2020, certain minority stockholders of Solar Juice Australia took certain actions that, if effective, would result in our owning only a minority interest in Solar Juice Australia, which could cause us to no longer be able to control Solar Juice Australia or consolidate its financial results into our financial statements. This would result in a material adverse effect on our financial results since Solar Juice Australia accounts for 82.3% of our revenues and 15.7% of our assets.

In May 2020, Solar Juice Co. Ltd. (“Solar Juice Co”),a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, in its capacity as shareholder of Solar Juice Australia together with Mr. Kun Fong Lee and Mr. Jinhan Zhou (who hold shares in Solar Juice as trustee for Solar Juice Co) ("SPI Shareholders") commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia as plaintiffs against its other shareholders and some of its other directors and purported directors and against Solar Juice Australia ("Defendants") in relation to a purported new rights issue undertaken by Solar Juice Australia, the purported removal by those other shareholders of Mr. Kun Fong Lee and Mr. Jinhan Zhou as directors of Solar Juice Australia and the purported appointment of an additional director. The SPI Shareholders allege that the purported new rights issue and the subsequent purported removal and appointment of directors are invalid and ineffective and therefore should be set aside. If effective, the purported rights issue will result in the SPI Shareholders' shareholding in Solar Juice Australia being reduced from 80% to 40%.

If our lawsuit is not successful, our financial results and stock price will be materially adversely affected.

We conduct our business in diverse locations around the world and are subject to economic, regulatory, social and political risks internationally and in the regions where we operate.

We currently conduct our business operations in the U.S., Japan, U.K., Greece, Italy and Australia, and as of June 29, 2020, we own and operate 16.8 MW of solar projects and have 19.636 MW of solar projects under construction across the world. Our business is therefore subject to diverse and constantly changing economic, regulatory, social and political conditions in these markets.

Operating internationally exposes us to a number of risks globally and in each of the markets where we operate, including, without limitation:

If economic recovery is slow in the markets where we operate, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. Moreover, as we expand into additional markets, we may face unfamiliar regulatory regimes, business practices, governmental policies and industry conditions. As a result, our experience and knowledge of our existing markets may not be applicable to new markets that we enter, requiring significant time and resources to adapt our business to these unfamiliar markets. To the extent that our diverse business operations are affected by unexpected and adverse economic, regulatory, social and political conditions, we may experience business disruptions, loss of assets and personnel and other indirect losses and our business, financial condition and results of operations both locally and internationally could be materially and adversely affected.

The reduction, modification, delay or discontinuation of government subsidies and other economic incentives for the solar industry may reduce the profitability or viability of our solar projects and materially adversely affect our business.

At present, solar power is not cost competitive with other energy sources in our existing markets and the new markets we plan to expand into. For a variety of technological and economic reasons, the cost of generating electricity from solar energy in these markets currently exceeds and, absent significant changes in technological or economic circumstances, will continue to exceed the cost of generating electricity from conventional and certain other competing energy sources. Therefore, government subsidies and incentives, primarily in the form of feed-in tariffs, or FIT, price support schemes, tax credits, net metering and other incentives to end users, distributors, system integrators and manufacturers of solar products are generally required to enable companies such as us to successfully operate in these markets.

Government subsidies and incentives vary by geographic market. The availability and size of such subsidies and incentives depend, to a large extent, on political and policy developments relating to environmental concerns and other macro-economic factors. These government subsidies and incentives are expected to gradually decrease in scope or be discontinued as solar power technology improves and becomes more affordable relative to other types of energy. Reductions have occurred in certain countries where we have operations, and subsidies and incentives may be further reduced or discontinued in countries where we currently or intend to operate. Reductions may apply retroactively to existing solar projects, which could significantly reduce the value of our existing solar projects and other businesses. Even if reductions in government subsidies and economic incentives apply only to future solar projects, our operations in that country could be materially and adversely affected as we would not be able to leverage our existing presence to drive further growth. Moreover, certain solar subsidies and incentives are designed to expire or decline over time, are limited in total funding, require renewal from regulatory authorities or impose certain investment or performance criteria on our business partners or us, which we may not be able to satisfy. In addition, we may not be able to upgrade our technologies rapidly enough to compensate for foreseeable reductions in government subsidies and incentives. As a result, a significant reduction in the scope or discontinuation of government incentive programs in our existing and target markets could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Misconduct and errors by our employees could harm our business and reputation.

We are exposed to many types of operational risks, including the risk of misconduct, errors and fraud by our employees and key management personnel. Our training, resources, technologies and fraud detection tools may be insufficient to accurately detect and prevent fraud. Significant increases in fraudulent activity could negatively impact our brand and reputation, which could increase our costs and expenses. High profile fraudulent activity could even lead to regulatory intervention, and may divert our management’s attention and cause us to incur additional expenses and costs. If any of the foregoing were to occur, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially and adversely affected.

Changes to our business strategy provide a limited history on which to base our prospects and anticipated results of operations. Our historical operating results may not serve as an adequate basis to evaluate our future prospects and results of operations.

For the past few years, we have expanded our global project development business under our independent power producer model, or IPP model, or our build-and-transfer model, or BT model, by ramping up our portfolio of solar projects. This limited operating history of developing and operating solar projects under our IPP and BT model may not be a reliable indicator of our future performance.

Given our limited operating history under the current business model, we may not be able to ascertain and allocate the appropriate financial and human resources necessary to grow these new business areas. We may invest considerable capital into growing these businesses but fail to address market or customer demands or otherwise fail to achieve satisfactory financial return. In particular, our results of operations, financial condition and future success depend largely on our ability to continue to identify suitable projects that complement our solar project pipeline through acquisitions and secondary development, as well as our ability to obtain the required regulatory approvals, financing and cost-effective construction services for these acquisitions. We must also sustainably manage and operate the solar projects that we acquire, develop and hold under our IPP model, or successfully identify buyers for solar projects under our BT model. In addition, in expanding into these new business areas, we may be competing against companies that have substantially more experience than we do with respect to solar projects under our IPP and BT models. If we are unable to achieve growth in these new business areas, our overall growth and financial performance may be inferior to our competitors and our operating results could be adversely impacted.

 Due to the change in our strategic focus and revenue generating efforts in 2014, our prior operating history and historical operating results may not provide a meaningful basis for evaluating our business, financial performance and prospects.

Period-to-period comparisons of our operating results and our results of operations for any period should not be relied upon as an indication of our performance for any future period. We have incurred net losses since our inception and as of December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $585.4 million. While we have had decreasing losses year over year, we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability in the near future.

We may not be able to acquire additional solar projects to grow our project portfolio, or effectively integrate or realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions.

Our current business strategy includes plans to further increase the number of solar projects we own and operate. Since 2014, we have significantly expanded our operations through acquisitions of solar projects across different development stages in Japan, the U.S., the U.K., Greece and Italy, and we may acquire additional businesses, products or technologies or enter into joint ventures or other strategic initiatives in the future. Accordingly, our ability to execute our expansion strategies depends on our ability to identify suitable investment or acquisition opportunities, which is subject to numerous uncertainties. We may not be able to identify favorable geographical markets for expansion or assess local demand for solar power, identify a sufficient number of projects as contemplated, or secure project financing and refinancing on reasonable terms for the contemplated acquisitions. In addition, our competitors may have substantially greater capital and other resources than we do, and may be able to pay more for the acquisition targets we identify and may be able to identify, evaluate, bid for and acquire a greater number of projects than our resources permit.

Furthermore, we may not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions and each transaction involves numerous risks, including, among others:

Acquisitions of companies are inherently risky, and ultimately, if we do not generate expected economic returns from the acquired businesses, or become responsible for any preexisting liabilities related to the acquired businesses, we may not fully realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We require a significant amount of cash to meet our capital requirements and fund our operations, including payments to suppliers for PV modules and components and to bank for project loan. As of December 31, 2019, we had $2.9 million in outstanding short-term borrowings (and the current portion of long-term borrowings) and $6 million in outstanding long-term borrowings (excluding the current portion).

Our existing debt may have significant consequences on our operations, including:

Any of these factors and other consequences that may result from our substantial indebtedness could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations as well as our ability to meet our payment obligations under our existing debt facilities. Our ability to meet our payment obligations under our existing debt facilities depends on our ability to generate significant cash flow in the future. This, to some extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative and regulatory factors as well as other factors that are beyond our control.

Our results of operations may be subject to fluctuations.

Before we achieve economies of scale in terms of our IPP projects and receive steady electricity generation income, our revenue in a given period will depend on the number of solar projects sold under our BT model and sale of PV modules and solar component, and therefore is subject to significant fluctuations. For instance, we may generate a significant portion of our revenues from the one-time sale of solar projects for certain periods. Moreover, certain aspects of our operations will also be subject to seasonal variations. For example, we may schedule significant construction activities to connect solar projects to the grids prior to a scheduled decrease in FIT rates in order to qualify for more favorable FIT policies.

Failure to manage our evolving business could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We intend to expand our business within our existing markets and in a number of selected new locations in the future. We also intend to expand our global project development business in the future. As our operations evolve, we expect to encounter additional challenges in our internal management, construction contracting management, investment and acquisition management, project management, project funding infrastructure and financing capabilities. Our existing operations, personnel, systems and internal control may not be adequate to support our business expansion and may require new investments in our internal management infrastructure. To manage the future growth of our operations, we will be required to improve our administrative, operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, and maintain, expand, train and manage a growing number of employees. In addition, we will need to hire and train additional project development personnel to manage our growing portfolio of IPP and BT projects. If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, we may not be able to take advantage of market opportunities, execute our business strategies successfully or respond to competitive pressures. As a result, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We act as the general contractor for our customers for the provision of EPC services, and are subject to risks associated with construction, delays and other contingencies, which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business and results of operations.

Historically, we have generated a significant portion of our revenue from the provision of EPC services. We generally enter into fixed-price EPC contracts under which we act as the general contractor for our customers in connection with the installation of their solar power systems. All essential costs are estimated at the time of entering into the EPC contracts for a particular project, and are reflected in the overall fixed-price that we charge our customers. These cost estimates are preliminary and may or may not be covered by contracts between us or our subcontractors, suppliers or other parties to the project. In addition, we engage qualified and licensed subcontractors for the construction of our EPC projects. Shortages of such skilled labor could significantly delay a project or otherwise increase our costs. Should miscalculations in project planning or delay in execution occur (including those due to unexpected increases in inflation, commodity prices or labor costs), we may not be able to achieve our expected margins or recover our costs.

In addition, our EPC contracts generally provide for performance milestones. Delays in supply of PV module or components, construction delays, unexpected performance problems in electricity generation or other events may cause us to fail to meet these performance criteria, resulting in unanticipated and severe revenue and earnings losses and financial penalties. If we are unable to complete the development of a solar project, or fail to meet one or more agreed target construction milestone dates, any agreed upon system-level capacity or energy output guarantees or warranties (including, for some projects, twenty-five year performance warranties) or other terms under our EPC contracts, or the solar projects we develop cause grid interference or other damage, we may be subject to termination of such contracts or significant damages, penalties and/or other obligation under the EPC agreements or other agreements relating to the projects (including obligations to repair, replace and/or supplement additional modules and balance of system materials for the projects), particularly if our liabilities are not capped under the terms of such agreements, and we may not be able to recover our investment in the project. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business and results of operations.

We generally recognize revenue from EPC services on a “cost-based input method” and payments are due upon the achievement of contractual milestones and any delay or cancellation of a project could adversely affect our business.

We generally recognize revenue from our EPC services on a “cost-based input method,” and as a result, revenues from our EPC services are driven by the performance of our contractual obligations, which is in turn generally driven by timelines of the installation of solar power systems at customer sites. Such arrangement could result in unpredictability of revenue and in the near term, a revenue decrease. As with any project-related business, there is potential for delays within any particular customer project. Variation of project timelines and estimates may impact our ability to recognize revenue in a particular period. In addition, certain EPC contracts may provide for payment milestones due at specified stages throughout the development of a project. Because we must invest substantially in a project in advance of achieving these milestones and receiving payments, delay or cancellation of a project could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We may fail to comply with laws and regulations in the markets we operate.

The development, construction and operation of solar projects are highly regulated. We conduct our operations in many jurisdictions and are subject to different laws and regulations, including national and local regulations relating to building codes, taxes, safety, environmental protection, utility interconnection, metering and other matters. Our establish subsidiaries also have operations in these countries and jurisdictions that are required to comply with various local laws and regulations. While we strive to work with our local counsel and other advisers to comply with the laws and regulations of each jurisdiction where we operate, there have been, and may continue to be, instances of non-compliances such as late filings of annual accounts with the appropriate governmental authorities, failure to notify governmental authorities of certain transactions, failure to hold annual meetings as required, failure to register director or address changes or other local requirements which may result in fines, sanctions or other penalties against our non-complying subsidiaries and its directors and officers. While we do not believe our past and continuing non-compliances, singularly or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations, we cannot assure you that similar or other non-compliances will not occur in the future which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We are responsible for obtaining a variety of approvals, permits and licenses from various authorities for our solar projects. The procedures for obtaining such approvals, permits and licenses vary from country to country, making it onerous and costly to adhere to the varying requirements and standards of individual localities. Failure to obtain the required approvals, permits or licenses or to comply with the conditions associated therewith may result in fines, sanctions, suspension, revocation or non-renewal of approvals, permits or licenses, or even criminal liabilities, which could material and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, new government regulations pertaining to our business or solar projects may result in significant additional expenses. We cannot assure you that we will be able to promptly and adequately respond to changes of laws and regulations in various jurisdictions, or that our employees and contractors will act in accordance with our internal policies and procedures. Failure to comply with laws and regulations where we develop, own and operate solar projects may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The market demand for solar power is strongly influenced by government regulations and policies concerning the electric utility industry as well as by policies promulgated by electric utilities in each of the markets we operate. These regulations and policies often relate to electricity pricing and technical interconnection of electricity generation. Customer purchases of alternative energy sources, including solar power technology, could be deterred by these regulations and policies, which may significantly reduce the demand for our PV solutions. For example, without a regulatory-mandated exception for solar power systems, utility customers are often charged interconnection or standby fees for putting distributed power generation on the electric utility grid or limit the production capacity to the grid. The county-level government may also levy additional tax related to land use or potential plants recovery that was not initially included during the development or construction phase. These fees could increase, rendering solar power less cost competitive in these markets and our PV solutions less desirable.

It is difficult to ensure ongoing compliance with the changing requirements of individual markets. Any new government regulations or utility policies pertaining to solar projects may result in significant additional expenses to us or other industry participants and as a result could cause a significant reduction in demand for our PV solutions.

The solar industry faces competition from both conventional power industries and other renewable power industries.

The solar industry faces intense competition from all other players within the energy industry, including both conventional energy providers such as nuclear, natural gas and fossil fuels and other renewable energy providers, such as geothermal, hydropower, biomass, wind and nuclear energy. Other energy sources may benefit from innovations that reduce their costs and increase safety, and therefore improve their competitiveness. New natural resources may be discovered, or global economic, business or political developments may disproportionately benefit conventional energy sources or other renewable energy sources at the expense of solar. Governments may strengthen their support for other renewable energy sources and reduce their support for the solar industry. Changes in supply and demand of conventional energy sources or other energy sources may reduce the cost of such sources and render solar power less attractive. For instance, the recent decline in oil prices and prolong low prices have adversely impacted the competitiveness of solar energy. Failure for our customers, other business partners or us to compete with the providers of other energy sources may materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The market for solar project development is highly competitive.

There is currently intense competition in the solar industry, particularly in the downstream project development segment. Solar projects encounter competition from utilities, industrial companies and other independent power producers. In recent years, there has been increasing competition for the award of PPAs, which has in some markets resulted in an excess supply above designated reserve margins and has been contributing to the declining electricity prices in many markets. In light of these conditions, we may not be able to obtain PPAs for our new solar projects under our IPP model, and we may not be able to renew PPAs on the same terms and conditions upon expiration, particularly in terms of securing an electricity sale price that enables profitable operation or the sale of a project at anticipated value, if at all.

We have expanded our business to include global project development and may not have the same level of expertise and customer base as our competitors, which may affect our ability to successfully establish our presence in the global market. Our current or potential competitors may have greater operational, financial, technical, market share, scale, management or other resources than us in our existing or target markets. Our competitors may also enter into strategic alliances with other competitors to our detriment, or may ally with our suppliers or contractors, thereby limiting our procurement choices and our flexibility in project development. Our current or potential competitors may offer PV solutions comparable or superior to ours at the same or lower prices, or adapt more quickly to industry trends than we do. Increased competition may result in price reductions, reduced profit margins and loss of market share.

Technological advances in the solar industry could render our PV solutions uncompetitive or obsolete.

The solar industry is characterized by its rapid adoption and application of technological advances. This requires us to develop new PV solutions and enhance our existing PV solutions to keep pace with and respond effectively to evolving technologies, market conditions and customer demands. Our competitors may develop technologies more advanced and cost-effective than ours. We will need to invest substantially in research and development to maintain our market position and effectively compete in the future. Our failure to further refine or enhance our technologies could render our technologies uncompetitive or obsolete, which could reduce our market share and cause our revenues to decline.

In addition, we may invest in and implement newly-developed, less-proven technologies in our project development or in maintaining or enhancing our existing projects. There is no guarantee that these new technologies will perform or generate customer demand as anticipated. The failure of our new technologies to perform as anticipated may materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

If sufficient demand for solar projects develops slower than we anticipate, develops in ways inconsistent with our strategy, or fails to develop at all, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

The solar power market worldwide is at a relatively early stage of development compared to conventional power markets and other renewable power markets, such as that for hydropower. Thus, trends in the solar industry are based only on limited data and may be unreliable. Many factors may affect the demand for solar projects worldwide, including:

Our analysis and predictions concerning the future growth of the solar industry are based on complex facts and circumstances and may be incorrect. If market demand for solar projects in our existing or target markets fails to develop according to our expectations, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.

Our growth prospects and future profitability and our ability to continue to acquire solar projects depends on the availability of sufficient financing on terms acceptable to us.

The development of solar projects requires significant upfront cash investments, including the costs of permit development, construction and associated operations. Since 2014, we have been expanding our solar project portfolio primarily by acquiring solar projects across different development stages. Such expansion strategy requires significant upfront capital expenditures which, depending on the respective development stages of the acquired projects, may not be recouped for a significant period of time. As a result, we are required to pursue a wide variety of capital resources to fund our operations, including private placements, bank loans, financial leases and other third-party financing options.

Our ability to obtain sufficient financing is subject to a number of uncertainties, including:

Due to these or other reasons, we may not be successful in obtaining the required funds for future acquisitions. Furthermore, we may be unable to refinance our bank borrowings on favorable terms, or at all, upon the expiration or termination of our existing loan facilities. In addition, rising interest rates could adversely affect our ability to secure financing on favorable terms. Our failure in securing suitable financing sources in a timely manner or at all, or on commercially acceptable terms, could significantly limit our ability to execute our growth strategies or future acquisitions, and may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The significant period of time between our upfront investments in solar projects and their commencement of revenue generation could materially and adversely affect our liquidity, business and results of operations.

We have since 2014 commenced our global project development business under our IPP or BT models by ramping up our portfolio of solar projects. There is a significant gap between the time that we make significant upfront investments in the solar projects and the time that we receive any revenue from the electricity generated by these solar projects after grid connection (under our IPP model) or from the sale of these projects (under our BT model). These upfront investments include, among others, legal, accounting and other professional fees, costs associated with feasibility studies and due diligence, payments for land use rights, construction costs, government permits and deposits for grid connection agreements and PPAs, none of which may be refundable if a project fails to achieve completion. We have historically relied on private placements, bank loans and financial leases to cover costs and expenses incurred during project development.

In particular, there could be an especially long gap between the initial assessment of a project, the first steps of acquiring land use rights and negotiating interconnection agreements and the obtaining of governmental approvals for construction. Acquisition of land use rights can be particularly time-consuming if we are engaged in primary development and need to negotiate with land owners or government entities. The significant development time increases the risk for adverse events during such process, whether they be economic, environmental, political, social or otherwise, that could cause further delays in project development or increase the overall development costs. Due to such adverse developments or unanticipated delays, we may be unable to recoup our initial investment in the solar projects, which may materially and adversely affect our liquidity, profitability and results of operations.

We may encounter unexpected difficulties when developing solar power projects.

In 2014, we commenced our global project development business by ramping up our portfolio of solar projects under both our IPP, BT and EPC models. The attributable capacity of our projects in operation is 16.8 MW, projects under construction 19.636 MW, and had an aggregate of 10.24MW of projects in announced pipeline as of June 29, 2020. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Our Global Project Development Business.” The development of solar projects involves numerous risks and uncertainties and require extensive research, planning and due diligence. Before we can determine whether a solar project is economically, technologically or otherwise feasible, we may be required to incur significant capital expenditure for land and interconnection rights, preliminary engineering, permitting, legal and other work. Success in developing a particular solar project is contingent upon, among others:

Successful completion of a particular solar project may be adversely affected by numerous factors, including, without limitation:

Accordingly, some of the solar projects in our portfolio may not eventually commence operation and connect to the grid, or even proceed to construction. If a number of our solar projects are not completed, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Our construction activities may be subject to cost overruns or delays.

We engage third-party contractors for the construction of solar projects. Construction of solar projects involves numerous risks and uncertainties, and may be adversely affected by circumstances outside of our control, including seasonal changes, inclement weather, failure to receive regulatory approvals on schedule or third-party delays in supplying PV modules or other materials. We may not be able to negotiate satisfactory construction agreements with third-party contractors, or our third-party contractors may not be able to contract with their subcontractors on a timely basis. In addition, if our contractors fail to adhere to our quality standards or otherwise fail to meet their contractual obligations, or if there is a shortage of contractors or labor strikes that prevents our contractors from completing their construction work on schedule or within budget, the solar projects may experience significant delays or cost overruns. Increases in the prices of solar products and components may also increase our procurement costs. Labor shortages, work stoppages and labor disputes could significantly delay a project or otherwise increase our costs. In addition, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required construction permits could also delay or hinder the construction of our solar projects. A lack of proper construction permits, or post-construction approvals could delay or prevent our solar projects from commencing operation and connecting to the grid.

We may not be able to recover any of our losses resulting from construction cost overruns or delays. In addition, since the FIT applicable to a solar project generally depends on its lead time to grid connection, construction and connection delays may lead to a lower-than-expected FIT, which would adversely affect the long-term value and potentially the viability of the project. Many PPAs also require our solar projects to connect to the grid by a certain date. If the construction of solar project is significantly delayed, we may be in violation of our PPAs or may only be entitled to reduced FIT payments, if at all. A reduction or forfeiture of FIT payments would materially and adversely affect the profitability for a solar power project. Any of the above contingencies could lead to our failure to generate expected return from our solar projects and result in unanticipated and significant revenue and earnings losses.

We rely on third-party suppliers and contractors when developing our solar power projects.

We source PV modules and other balance-of-system components from a wide selection of third-party suppliers and engage third-party contractors for the construction of solar projects. We typically enter into contracts with our suppliers and contractors on a project-by-project basis and do not maintain long-term contracts with our suppliers or contractors. Therefore, we are generally exposed to price fluctuations and availability of PV modules and balance-of-system components sourced from our suppliers and construction services procured from our contractors. For example, in light of changing market dynamics and government policies, the price and availability of PV modules have been subject to significant volatility in recent years. Increases in the prices of PV modules or balance-of-system components, decreases in their availability, fluctuations in construction, labor and installation costs, or changes in the terms of our relationship with our suppliers and contractors may increase the cost of procuring equipment and engaging contractors and hence materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Furthermore, the delivery of defective products or products or construction services by our suppliers or contractors which are otherwise not in compliance with contract specifications, or the late supply of products or construction services, may cause construction delays or solar power projects that fail to adhere to our quality and safety standards, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flow.

Warranties provided by our suppliers and contractors may be limited or insufficient to compensate for our losses, or may not cover the nature of our losses incurred.

We expect to benefit from various warranties, including product quality and performance warranties, provided by our suppliers and contractors. These suppliers and contractors, however, may file for bankruptcy, cease operations or otherwise become unable or unwilling to fulfill their warranty obligations. Even if a supplier fulfills its warranty obligations, the warranty may not be sufficient to compensate us for all of our losses. In addition, the warranty for inverters and transformers generally expire after 5 to 10 years from the date such equipment is delivered or commissioned and is subject to liability limits. Where damages are caused by defective products provided by our suppliers or construction services delivered by our contractors, our suppliers or contractors may be unable or unwilling to perform their warranty obligations as a result of their financial conditions or otherwise. Or if the warranty has expired or a liability limit has been reached, there may be a reduction or loss of warranty protection for the affected projects, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our solar projects have short operating histories and may not perform up to our expectations.

The projects in our solar project portfolio are relatively new with expected operating life of more than 20 years. The majority of our projects in operation as of December 31, 2019 commenced operations since 2014. In addition, the projects we acquire in the future may not have commenced construction or operation or otherwise have a limited operating history. As a result, our assumptions and estimates regarding the future performance of these projects are, and will be, made without the benefit of a meaningful operating history, which may impair our ability to accurately assess the potential profitability of the projects. The performance of these projects will also be subject to risks inherent in newly constructed renewable energy projects, including breakdowns and outages, latent defects, equipment that performs below our expectations and system failures. Failure of some or all of our projects to perform up to our expectations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may not be able to obtain long-term contracts for the sale of electricity generated by our solar projects under our IPP model at prices and on other terms favorable to attract financing and other investments.

Since 2014, we started acquiring solar projects across different stages of development globally and to hold some of these acquired projects under our IPP model. Obtaining long-term contracts for the sale of electricity generated by our solar projects under our IPP model at prices and on other terms favorable to us will be essential for obtaining financing or completing construction of these projects. We must compete for PPAs against other developers of solar and renewable energy projects. Furthermore, other sources of power, such as natural gas-fired power plants, have historically been cheaper than the cost of solar power and power from certain types of projects, such as natural gas-fired power plants, can be delivered on a firm basis. The availability of PPAs is subject to a number of economic, regulatory, tax and public policy factors. The inability to compete successfully against other power producers or otherwise enter into PPAs favorable to us would negatively affect our ability to develop and finance our projects and negatively impact our revenue.

We may be subject to unforeseen costs, liabilities or obligations when providing O&M services.

We provide ongoing O&M services to third-party solar projects under fixed-price long-term service agreements, pursuant to which we generally perform all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance and operating and other asset management services for the system. Our costs to perform these services are estimated at the time of entering into the O&M agreement for a particular project, and these are reflected in the fixed-price that we charge our customers under the O&M agreement. Should miscalculations in estimating these costs occur (including those due to unexpected increases in inflation or labor costs), our O&M services may not be profitable and our growth strategy and results of operations could be adversely affected. Because of the long-term nature of these O&M agreements, the adverse impacts on results of operations could be significant, particularly if our liabilities are not capped or subject to an above-market liability cap under the terms of the O&M agreement. In addition, we may be subject to substantial costs, liabilities or obligations in the event that the solar projects we maintain and operate do not meet any agreed-upon system-level availability or performance warranties.

We have limited insurance coverage.

Our insurance policies cover employee-related accidents and injuries, property damage, machinery breakdowns, fixed assets, facilities and liability deriving from our activities, including environmental liability. We consider our current insurance coverage to be adequate, but we cannot assure you that our insurance will be sufficient or effective under all circumstances and against all hazards or liabilities to which we may be subject. Furthermore, our insurance coverage is subject to deductibles, caps, exclusions and other limitations. A loss for which we are not fully insured could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, due to rising insurance costs and changes in the insurance markets, we cannot assure you that our insurance coverage will continue to be available at comparable rates or on similar terms, if at all. We may also reduce or cancel our insurance coverage at any time. We may not be able to maintain or obtain insurance of the type and amount we desire at reasonable rates and we may elect to self-insure a portion of our solar project portfolio. Any losses not covered by insurance could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In addition, the insurance industry in many parts of the world is still in an early stage of development. As we continue to expand our global presence, we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain adequate insurance coverage in each of the new markets we enter. To the extent that our operations are not adequately insured in these markets, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

We may be subject to product or strict liability claims if the provision of our EPC services or the solar projects we sell result in injury or damage, and we have limited insurance coverage to protect against such claims, as well as losses that may result from business interruptions or natural disasters.

Solar projects are highly sophisticated and generate and transfer large volumes of electric charge with the potential to harm or kill, whether by improper installation or other causes. We are therefore exposed to an inherent risk of product liability claims or class action suits in the event that the installation of the solar power systems during the provision of our EPC services, or the solar projects we sell under our BT model, results in injury or damage, and we may even be liable in some jurisdictions under a strict liability theory, where liability holds even if we are not negligent or at fault. Moreover, to the extent that a claim is brought against us, we may not have adequate resources to defend ourselves. We rely on our general liability insurance to cover product liability and other liability claims and have not separately obtained product liability insurance. The unfavorable settlement of product or strict liability claims against us could result in significant monetary damages and significant payments in excess of our insurance coverage could have a materially adverse effect on our financial results. Any such business disruption could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources.

Solar energy generation depends heavily on suitable meteorological conditions. If weather conditions are unfavorable, our power generation output, and therefore the revenue from our solar projects, may be substantially below our expectations.

The electricity produced and revenues generated by solar projects are highly dependent on suitable solar conditions and associated weather conditions. Such conditions are beyond our control. Furthermore, components of these generation systems, including solar panels and inverters, can be damaged by severe weather, such as heavy snowstorms, hailstorms, ice storms, lightning strikes, extreme winds, earthquakes or tornadoes. Replacement and spare parts for key components may be difficult costly or unavailable. Unfavorable weather and atmospheric conditions could reduce the electricity output of our solar projects to below projected generation, damage or impair the effectiveness of our projects or require shutdown of key equipment, impeding operation of our projects and our ability to achieve forecasted revenues and cash flows.

The amount of electricity solar projects produce is dependent in part on the amount of sunlight, or insolation, where the projects are located. Because shorter daylight hours in winter months results in less insolation, the generation of particular projects will vary depending on the season.

We base our investment decisions with respect to solar power generation assets on the findings of related solar studies conducted prior to construction or based on historical conditions at existing projects. However, actual climatic conditions at an asset site may not conform to the findings of these studies. For example, unexpected development of climate conditions that was not taken into consideration during the investment decision-making process, such as smog and sand storms may significantly reduce the solar power generation. Therefore, our solar projects may not meet anticipated production levels or the rated capacity of our projects, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The operation of solar projects involves significant inherent risks and hazards that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

The operation of solar projects involves numerous hazardous activities, including delivering electricity to transmission and distribution systems. We are subject to natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, snow obscuration, high temperatures, lightning, hurricanes, long-term climate changes, volcanoes and wind risks, as well as other inherent risks affecting resource availability such as fire, explosion, soil and ice buildup, structural collapse and equipment failure. Moreover, we may suffer from negligent acts by our PPA counterparties or other third parties. Our rooftop projects could cause damage to the building roof, resulting in claims due to water damages or replacement of roofing materials. These and other hazards can cause significant personal injury or loss of life, severe damage to, and destruction of, property and equipment and contamination of, or damage to, the environment, wildlife takes or fatalities and suspension of operations. The occurrence of any of these events may result in lawsuits against us asserting claims for substantial damages, including for environmental cleanup costs, personal injury and property damage and fines and/or penalties.

In addition, the ongoing operation of solar projects face risks that include the breakdown or failure of equipment or processes or performance below expected levels of output or efficiency due to wear and tear, latent defect, design error or operator error or force majeure events, among others. Unplanned outages, including extensions of scheduled outages, occur from time to time and are an inherent risk of our business. Unplanned outages typically increase our operation and maintenance expenses and may reduce our revenues as a result of generating and selling less electricity.

If we fail to properly operate and maintain our solar projects, these projects may experience decreased performance, shortened operating life or shut downs. Our solar projects may also require periodic upgrading and improvement. Changes in our own operation or local conditions may increase the costs of operating the project, including costs related to labor, equipment, insurance and taxes. If we cause damage to third parties, we may become liable for the consequences of any resulting damage. We may also experience equipment malfunction or failure, leading to unexpected maintenance needs, unplanned outages or other operational issues. In addition, inconsistencies in the quality of solar panels, PV modules, balance-of-system components or maintenance services for our solar projects may affect the system efficiency of our projects.

Any unexpected operational or mechanical failure, including failure associated with breakdowns and forced outages, and any decreased operational or management performance, could reduce our solar projects’ power generating capacity below expected levels, reducing our revenues and profitability. Degradation of the performance of our solar projects above levels provided for in the relevant PPAs may also reduce our revenues. Unanticipated capital expenditures associated with maintaining, upgrading or repairing our projects may also reduce our profitability. In addition, damage to our reputation due to system failure or accidents could negatively impact our relationships with customers and local government authorities, which could also materially adversely affect our business. Negative public or community response to solar energy projects could adversely affect the approval for and construction of our projects. We maintain insurance coverage that we consider adequate but we cannot assure you that our insurance will be sufficient or effective under all circumstances and against all hazards or liabilities to which we may be subject.

Environmental, health and safety laws and regulations subject us to extensive and increasingly stringent operational requirements, as well as potentially substantial liabilities arising out of environmental contamination.

We are subject to, in each of the jurisdictions we operate, numerous national and local laws, regulations, guidelines, policies, directives and other requirements governing or relating to, among others, land use and zoning matters and protection of human health and the environment, including those limiting the discharge and release of pollutants into the environment, and the protection of certain wildlife. These laws and regulations require our solar projects to, among others, obtain and maintain approvals and permits, undergo environmental impact assessments and review processes and implement environmental, health and safety programs and procedures to control risks associated with the construction, operation and decommissioning of solar projects. If our solar projects do not comply with applicable environmental laws, regulations or permit requirements, we may be required to pay significant fines or penalties or suspend or cease operations of the affected projects. Violations of environmental and other laws, regulations and permit requirements may also result in criminal sanctions or injunctions.

Our solar projects may experience malfunctions and other unplanned events that result in personal injury and property damage. As such, the operation of our projects carries an inherent risk of environmental, health and safety liabilities (including potential civil actions, compliance or remediation orders, fines and other penalties), and may subject us to administrative and judicial proceedings. In addition, certain environmental laws and regulations may impose joint and several liability on past and present owners and operators of sites, related to the cleaning up of sites where hazardous wastes or materials were disposed or released.

We may continue to conduct acquisitions and enter into joint ventures, investments or other strategic alliances which may be unsuccessful.

We may continue to grow our operations through acquisitions, as well as joint ventures or other strategic alliances when appropriate opportunities arise. Such acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances may expose us to additional operational, regulatory, market and geographical risks as well as risks associated with additional capital requirements and diversion of management attention. In particular, any future strategic alliances may expose us to the following risks:

The materialization of any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We rely substantially on our senior management team and our ability to attract, train and retain qualified personnel for our current and future success.

The industry experience, expertise and contributions of our chairman, Mr. Xiaofeng Peng, is essential to our continuing success. We will continue to rely on our senior management, regional management and other key employees to manage our business operations and implement our growth plans. If they cannot work together effectively or efficiently, our business may be severely disrupted. If one or more of our senior or regional management personnel were unable or unwilling to continue to hold their present positions, we might not be able to recruit, train and retain personnel with comparable qualifications, and our results of operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected.

Our qualified and experienced project development teams are critical to our success. We may not be able to continue to attract, train and retain qualified personnel, including executive officers, project development personnel, project management personnel and other key personnel with the necessary experience and expertise. In particular, as we enter into new markets, we face challenges to recruit and retain qualified personnel who are familiar with local regulatory regimes and have adequate experiences in project development and operations. In particular, we have experienced a lack of accounting personnel with an appropriate level of knowledge and experience in U.S. GAAP.

There is substantial competition for qualified personnel in the downstream PV industry. Our competitors may offer more competitive packages or otherwise attract our personnel. Our costs to retain qualified personnel may also increase in response to competition. If we fail to continue to attract and retain a sufficient number of personnel with suitable managerial, technical or marketing expertise, our business operations could be adversely affected and our future growth and expansions may be inhibited.

Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may undermine our competitive position, and litigation to protect our intellectual property rights may be costly.

We rely primarily on trade secrets, know-how and other proprietary information to protect our intellectual property. Nevertheless, these afford only limited protection and the actions we take to protect our intellectual property rights may not be adequate to provide us with meaningful protection or commercial advantage. Third parties may be able to use the technologies that we have developed and compete with us, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Our failure to protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights may undermine our competitive position. Third parties may infringe or misappropriate our proprietary technologies or other intellectual property and proprietary rights. Policing the unauthorized use of proprietary technology can be difficult and expensive. In particular, the laws and enforcement procedures certain markets where we operate are uncertain or do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as do the laws and enforcement procedures of the United States. We may need to resort to court proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights in the future. Litigation relating to our intellectual property might result in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention away from our business. An adverse determination in any such litigation will impair our intellectual property rights and adversely affect our business, prospects and reputation.

We may be exposed to infringement or misappropriation claims by third parties which, if determined adversely to us, could cause us to pay significant damage awards.

Our success depends largely on our ability to use and develop our technology and know-how without infringing the intellectual property rights of third parties. The validity and scope of claims relating to solar technology involve complex scientific, legal and factual questions and analysis and, therefore, may be highly uncertain. As we continue to expand internationally, we face a heightened risk of becoming the subject of claims for intellectual property infringement. We may be subject to litigation involving claims of patent infringement or violation of intellectual property rights of third parties. An adverse determination in any such litigation or proceedings against us could subject us to significant liabilities to third parties, including requiring us to seek licenses from third parties, to pay ongoing royalties or to pay monetary and punitive damages. Protracted litigation could also result in our customers or potential customers deferring or limiting their procurement of our PV solutions until resolution of such litigation, which could result in losses and adversely affect our reputation and results of operations.

Our management has identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and we may not be able to remediate these weaknesses. Additionally, our management may identify material weaknesses in the future that could adversely affect investor confidence, impair the value of our securities and increase our cost of raising capital.

Our management identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, and our chief executive officer concluded that our disclosure and internal controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2019. See “Item 15. Controls and Procedures” for more information. There can be no assurance as to how quickly or effectively we can remediate the material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting or that additional material weaknesses will not be identified in the future.

Any failure to remedy additional weaknesses or deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that may be discovered in the future or to implement new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in the implementation of such controls, could harm our operating results, cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations or result in material misstatements in our financial statements. Any such failure could, in turn, affect the future ability of our management to certify that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. Ineffective internal control over financial reporting could also subject us to the scrutiny of the SEC and other regulatory bodies which could cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information and subject us to civil or criminal penalties or shareholder litigation, which could have an adverse effect on the trading price of our securities.

In addition, if we identify additional deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting, the disclosure of that fact, even if quickly remedied, could reduce the market’s confidence in our financial statements and harm our share price. Furthermore, additional deficiencies could result in future non-compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley”). Such non-compliance could subject us to a variety of administrative sanctions, including review by the SEC or other regulatory authorities.

The preparation of our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires us to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that may ultimately prove to be incorrect.

The accounting estimates and judgments that management must make in the ordinary course of business affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the consolidated financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the periods presented. If the underlying estimates are ultimately proven to be incorrect, subsequent adjustments could have a material adverse effect on our operating results for the period or periods in which the change is identified.

The global cryptocurrency mining services market is highly competitive and fragmented with low barriers to market.

Although the market for providing services to cryptocurrency miners is new and evolving, the barriers to entry are quite low. Except for having the financial resources to set up a facility, no specialized technology or know-how required. Therefore, if cryptocurrency mining remains profitable, we expect additional competitors to enter the market, some of whom may have greater resources than we do.

The prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been fluctuating wildly in the last few months. If there is fewer people who want to conduct cryptocurrency mining operations due to the wild fluctuation, the demand for our services will decline.

The prices of cryptocurrencies have been fluctuating wildly in the last few months. Such fluctuation may make cryptocurrency mining less profitable. If the price of cryptocurrencies falls or does not increase, fewer people are likely to conduct cryptocurrency mining operations, which would reduce the demand for our services.

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency are in the early stages of development and it is difficult to predict how the market for cryptocurrencies will develop.

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency are in the early stages of development and it is difficult to predict how the market for cryptocurrencies will develop. There are significant factors which may inhibit the growth of these markets, including:

Any of these factors could significantly limit the growth of our business.

We need to access a large quantity of power at a reasonable cost in order to provide our cryptocurrency mining services; if we are unable to access such power sources, we will not be able to continue providing cryptocurrency mining services profitably.

We need to access a large quantity of power at a reasonable cost in order to provide our cryptocurrency mining services, and we do not have any long-term contract for the provision of power at specified prices. As competition in this area increases, we may not be able to access power at reasonable costs or at all. If we are unable to access new power sources, or the price of our current power sources significantly increase, we will not be able to continue providing cryptocurrency mining services profitably.

The hemp and CBD industries are evolving yet highly regulated and we must anticipate and respond to changes and risks.

In September 2019, the Company launched a hemp and Cannabidiol (“CBD”) businesses and as of the date of this annual report, our hemp and CBD businesses have no revenue derived from this business. The hemp and CBD industries are not yet well-developed, and many aspects of the industries’ development and evolution cannot be accurately predicted. In addition, the hemp and CBD businesses are heavily regulated in the jurisdiction(s) where we carry on such businesses. Although the hemp and CBD businesses contribute nil to our total revenue,our hemp and CBD businesses are subject to various laws, regulations and guidelines by governmental authorities relating to, among other things, the manufacture, marketing, management, transportation, storage, sale, pricing and disposal of cannabis, U.S. hemp and cannabis-based products, and also including laws, regulations and guidelines relating to health and safety, insurance coverage, the conduct of operations and the protection of the environment. You should carefully consider that there are other risks that cannot be foreseen or are not described herein, which could affect Company’s business and financial performance.

DEA Regulation of CBD Varies Depending on the Concentration of THC

Under Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regulations, marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug not approved as a medication in the United States; however, hemp has been distinguished from marijuana under the definition revised in 2018. Hemp is defined as the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant — including the seeds and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not — with a THC concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) Regulations Do Not Permit CBD as a Food Additive or Dietary Supplement

Analysis of the potential for regulatory impact on any type of CBD product is fact-specific and requires close evaluation of several factors, including the type of product (e.g., food, dietary supplement, or cosmetic), product’s labeling, and the existing compliance structure of the product developer or manufacturer. The FDA regulates CBD if it is used as a food additive, a dietary supplement or in cosmetic products, or if it is advertised as a drug.

Rapidly Changing State Laws May Impose Further Restrictions on CBD Products

Where CBD products are sold or manufactured, it is important to review applicable state law to determine any further restrictions on CBD. For instance, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services recently announced it would send letters to businesses notifying them that the sale of CBD in food, drinks and animal food violates state and federal law. Further, in February 2019, Maine and New York announced that restaurants and other retailers may not sell products containing CBD and that the states would begin enforcing these restrictions. These state restrictions may significantly impact overall sales of CBD products as the regulatory landscape continues to evolve.

Avoid Certain Advertising and Labeling Claims for CBD Products

Marketing claims about the therapeutic benefits of CBD may inadvertently subject CBD product manufacturers to FDA’s drug regulations. Claims that CBD can treat or mitigate a disease or condition, for instance, may run afoul of FDA’s position on CBD product marketing. To date, the FDA has approved only one drug directly using CBD - Epidiolex - which treats two rare forms of childhood epilepsy. The FDA has not determined that CBD is safe or effective for treating any other particular disease or condition. Accordingly, companies should avoid making claims that CBD will aid in the treatment of any particular disease or condition or provide any particular health benefits. FDA further clarified that it will continue to aggressively pursue companies marketing CBD products with “egregious and unfounded claims that are aimed at vulnerable populations.”

Federal Regulation of CBD Will Continue to Evolve

The FDA’s position on CBD is not static, and potential investors should continue to monitor the evolving federal landscape. The FDA recently held a public hearing to obtain scientific data and information about the safety, manufacturing, product quality, marketing, labeling and sale of products containing cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds. The FDA also announced that it is forming a high-level internal agency working group to explore potential pathways for dietary supplements and/or conventional foods containing CBD to be lawfully marketed. The group will consider what statutory or regulatory changes might be needed and the likely impact of such marketing on public health. As stakeholders weigh in on thisissue, FDA’s position on this topic likely will continue to evolve.

Covid-19 continues to impact on alfalfa hay transportation

With Asia’s increasing demand for American alfalfa hay, we have recognized the importance of exporting to the Asian market. However, the uncertainty around the coronavirus has disrupted global markets and the U.S. market has not been immune. Major oceanic carriers have reduced the frequency of their shipments, disrupting our supply chain. This required U.S. exporters to reschedule shipments and work to find boat space for new shipments. Fortunately, there is sustained demand from major importing countries, but logistics will be a challenge in the coming months.

U.S.-China trade disruption remains unclear

The outcome of the U.S.-China trade war remains unclear. There might be future disruptions in the market with potential for tariffs being set on our products. This will affect the Chinese demand for our products if our products become more expensive than Chinese local producers when tariffs are added to our prices. However, alfalfa hay is exempted from tariffs since September 2019 for one year so we are currently unaffected.

Weather Condition may lead to decline in Hay production

Weather conditions are a huge factor affecting alfalfa hay production. Increasingly random weather patterns due to global warming could post a potential risk to production levels.

Risks Related to COVID-19

Our business and financial results may be materially adversely affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

The pandemic of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected the economies and financial markets worldwide. Government efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus through lockdowns of cities, business closures, restrictions on travel and emergency quarantines, among others, and responses by businesses and individuals to reduce the risk of exposure to infection, including reduced travel, cancellation of meetings and events, and implementation of work-at-home policies, among others, have caused significant disruptions to the global economy and normal business operations across a growing list of sectors and countries.

Our operating results substantially depend on revenues derived from sales of PV project assets, provision of electricity and our Australian subsidiary’s trading of PV components. As the COVID-19 spread continues, the measures implemented to curb the spread of the virus have resulted in supply chain disruptions, insufficient work force and suspended manufacturing and construction works for solar industry. One or more of our customers, partners, service providers or suppliers may experience financial distress, delayed or defaults on payment, file for bankruptcy protection, sharp diminishing of business, or suffer disruptions in their business due to the outbreak. These preventative measures have also impacted our daily operations. The efforts enacted to control COVID-19 have placed heavy pressure on our marketing and sales activities. Moreover, due to the decrease in prices of crude oil, the demand for solar energy can decrease in the near future. We continue to assess the related risks and impacts COVID-19 pandemic may have on our business and our financial performance. In light of the rapidly changing situation across different countries and regions, it remains difficult to estimate the duration and magnitude of COVID-19 impact. Until such time as the COVID-19 pandemic is contained or eradicated and global business return to more customary levels, our business and financial results may be materially adversely affected.

Risks Related to Our International Operations

We are subject to risks associated with foreign currency exchange rates, fluctuations of which may negatively affect our revenue, cost of goods sold and gross margins and could result in exchange losses.

We currently operate in a number of jurisdictions including the U.S., Japan, U.K., Greece, Italy and Australia, and our local operations are generally conducted in the functional currency of the home jurisdiction. The FIT and other subsidies granted are also denominated in local currencies. Thus, we deal on a regular basis in several currencies concurrently, which exposes us to significant currency exchange risks. Any increased costs or reduced revenue as a result of foreign exchange rate fluctuations could adversely affect our profit margins. The fluctuation of foreign exchange rates also affects the value of our monetary and other assets and liabilities denominated in local currencies. Generally, an appreciation of the U.S. dollar against the relevant local currencies could result in a foreign exchange loss for assets denominated in such local currencies and a foreign exchange gain for liabilities denominated in such local currencies. Conversely, a devaluation of the U.S. dollar against the relevant local currencies could result in a foreign exchange gain for assets denominated in such local currencies and a foreign exchange loss for liabilities denominated in such local currencies.

We may also expand into emerging markets, some of which may have an uncertain regulatory environment relating to currency policy. Conducting business in such emerging markets could increase our exposure to foreign exchange risks. Although we access a variety of financing solutions that are tailored to the geographic location of our projects and to local regulations, we have not entered into any hedging transactions to reduce the foreign exchange risks, but may do so in the future when appropriate. However, if we decide to hedge our foreign exchange exposure in the future, we cannot assure you that we will be able to reduce our foreign currency risk exposure in an effective manner, at reasonable costs, or at all.

The ongoing debt crisis in the Eurozone and market perceptions concerning the instability of the Euro and the European economy could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financing.

Concerns persist regarding the debt burden of certain Eurozone countries and their ability to meet future financial obligations, the overall stability of the Euro and the suitability of the Euro as a single currency given the diverse economic and political circumstances in individual Eurozone countries. These concerns or market perceptions concerning these and related issues could adversely affect the value of our Euro-denominated assets and obligations and lead to future economic slowdowns.

Risks Related to Our Ordinary Shares

We have significant “equity overhang” which could adversely affect the market price of our Shares and impair our ability to raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities.

As of the date of this annual report, we had 14,837,469 ordinary shares outstanding, including 4,289,340 ordinary shares, or approximately 28.9% of our total ordinary shares outstanding, held by Mr. Xiaofeng Peng, our director, executive chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer. The possibility that substantial amounts of our outstanding ordinary shares may be sold by Mr. Xiaofeng Peng or the perception that such sales could occur, or “equity overhang,” could adversely affect the market price of our ordinary shares, and could impair our ability to raise additional capital through the sale of equity securities in the future.

We are subject to litigation risks, including securities class actions and shareholder derivative actions, which may be costly to defend and the outcome of which is uncertain.

From time to time, we are subject to legal claims, with and without merit, that may be costly, and which may divert the attention of our management and our resources in general. In addition, our solar projects may be subject to litigation or other adverse proceedings that may adversely impact our ability to proceed with construction or grid connection or sell a given project, which would adversely affect our ability to recognize revenue with respect to such project. We are currently involved in various legal proceedings. See “Item 8. Financial Information —Consolidated Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal and Administrative Proceedings.” The results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict. Lawsuits filed against us may assert types of claims that, if resolved against us, could give rise to substantial damages, and an unfavorable outcome or settlement of one or more of these lawsuits, or any future lawsuits, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Even if these lawsuits are not resolved against us, the costs of defending such lawsuits may not be covered by our insurance policies. We cannot assure you that additional litigation will not be filed against us in the future.

It may be difficult to effect service of process on, or to enforce any judgments obtained against us, our directors, or our senior management members.

There is no statutory enforcement in the Cayman Islands of judgments obtained in the federal or state courts of the United States (and the Cayman Islands are not a party to any treaties for the reciprocal enforcement or recognition of such judgments), a judgment obtained in such jurisdiction will be recognized and enforced in the courts of the Cayman Islands at common law, without any re-examination of the merits of the underlying dispute, by an action commenced on the foreign judgment debt in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, provided such judgment (a) is given by a foreign court of competent jurisdiction, (b) imposes on the judgment debtor a liability to pay a liquidated sum for which the judgment has been given, (c) is final, (d) is not in respect of taxes, a fine or a penalty, and (e) was not obtained in a manner and is not of a kind the enforcement of which is contrary to natural justice or the public policy of the Cayman Islands. However, the Cayman Islands courts are unlikely to enforce a judgment obtained from the U.S. courts under civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities law if such judgment is determined by the courts of the Cayman Islands to give rise to obligations to make payments that are penal or punitive in nature. Because such a determination has not yet been made by a court of the Cayman Islands, it is uncertain whether such civil liability judgments from U.S. courts would be enforceable in the Cayman Islands.

Our shareholders may experience future dilution.

Our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association permits our board of directors, without shareholder approval, to authorize the issuance of preferred shares. The board of directors may classify or reclassify any preferred shares to set the preferences, rights and other terms of the classified or reclassified shares, including the issuance of preferred shares that have preference rights over our ordinary shares with respect to dividends, liquidation and voting rights. Furthermore, substantially all of our ordinary shares for which our outstanding stock options are exercisable are, once they have been purchased, eligible for immediate sale in the public market.

We may from time to time distribute rights to our shareholders, including rights to acquire our securities. However, we cannot make these rights available in the United States unless we register the rights and the securities to which the rights relate under the Securities Act or an exemption from the registration requirements is available. We are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such rights or securities or to endeavor to cause a registration statement to be declared effective. Moreover, we may not be able to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act. Accordingly, you may be unable to participate in our rights offerings and may experience dilution in your holdings.

The issuance of additional shares in our capital or the exercise of stock options or warrants could be substantially dilutive to your shares and may negatively affect the market price of our ordinary shares.

The price of our securities has been and may continue to be highly volatile.

The price of our ordinary shares has been and may continue to be subject to wide fluctuations in the future in response to many events or factors, including those discussed in the preceding risk factors relating to our operations, as well as:

Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which our ordinary shares will trade. We cannot give any assurance that these factors will not occur in the future again. In addition, the securities market has from time to time experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that are not related to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also have a material adverse effect on the market price of our ordinary shares. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of their stock, many companies have been the subject of securities class action litigation. If we become involved in similar securities class action litigation in the future, it could result in substantial costs and diversion of our management’s attention and resources and could harm our stock price, business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to meet the applicable listing requirements, NASDAQ may delist our ordinary shares from trading on its exchange in which case the liquidity and market price of our securities could decline and our ability to raise additional capital would be adversely affected.

Our ordinary shares are currently listed for trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. If we remain listed, there are a number of requirements that must be met in order for our ordinary shares to remain listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, and the failure to meet any of these listing standards could result in the delisting of our ordinary shares from NASDAQ. We cannot assure you that we will be able to timely file all required reports or comply with all other NASDAQ Listing Rules at all times in the future, or regain compliance in a timely manner in case of a default and avoid any subsequent adverse action taken by the Listing Qualifications Department, including but not limited to delisting.

Our articles of association contain anti-takeover provisions that could prevent a change in control even if such takeover is beneficial to our shareholders.

Our articles of association contain provisions that could delay, defer or prevent a change in control of us that could be beneficial to our shareholders. These provisions could also discourage proxy contests and make it more difficult for you and other shareholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. As a result, these provisions could limit the price that investors are willing to pay for the ordinary shares. These provisions might also discourage a potential acquisition proposal or tender offer, even if the acquisition proposal or tender offer is at a price above the then current market price of our ordinary shares. These provisions provide that our board of directors has authority, without any further action by our shareholders, to issue preferred shares in one or more series and to fix their designations, powers, preferences, privileges, and relative participating, optional or special rights and the qualifications, limitations or restrictions, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which may be greater than the rights associated with the ordinary shares. The board of directors may decide to issue such preferred shares quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control of us or make the removal of our management more difficult. If the board of directors decides to issue such preferred shares, the price of our ordinary shares may fall and the voting and other rights of holders of our ordinary shares may be materially adversely affected.

You may not receive dividends or other distributions on our ordinary shares and you may not receive any value for them, if it is illegal or impractical to make them available to you.

Under Cayman Islands law, we may only pay dividends out of our profits or share premium account subject to our ability to pay our debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of our business. Our ability to pay dividends will therefore depend on our ability to generate sufficient profits. We cannot give any assurance that we will declare dividends of any amounts, at any rate or at all in the future. We have not paid any dividends in the past. Future dividends, if any, will be paid at the discretion of our board of directors, subject to requirements under Cayman Islands law and our memorandum and articles of association, as amended and restated from time to time, and will depend upon our future operations and earnings, capital expenditure requirements, general financial conditions, legal and contractual restrictions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

We are treated as a U.S. corporation for U.S. federal tax purposes.

Due to the circumstances of our formation and the application of Section 7874(b) of the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), we are treated as a U.S. corporation for all purposes of the Code. As a result, we are subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax on our worldwide income. In addition, if we pay dividends to a Non-U.S. Holder, as defined in the discussion “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation—U.S. Federal Income Taxation,” U.S. income tax will be withheld at the rate of 30%, or, subject to certain conditions, such lower rate as may be provided in an applicable income tax treaty. Each investor should consult its own tax adviser regarding the U.S. federal income tax consequences of holding the ordinary shares in its particular circumstances.

We rely on the foreign private issuer exemption for certain corporate governance requirements under the NASDAQ Stock Market Rules, or the NASDAQ Rules, including the majority independent board requirement. This may afford less protection to holders of our ordinary shares and ADSs.

As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements of NASDAQ. We are required to provide a brief description of the significant differences between our corporate governance practices and the corporate governance practices required to be followed by U.S. domestic issuers under the NASDAQ Rules. The standards applicable to us are considerably different from those applied to U.S. domestic issuers. For instance, we are not required to:

We are not required to, and will not voluntarily meet, these requirements. For example, our board of directors currently consists of five directors, three of whom satisfy the “independence” requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act and Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ Rules. The law of our home country, the Cayman Islands, does not require a majority of our board of directors be composed of independent directors. We intend to follow our home country practice with regard to the composition of the board of directors.

As a result, holders of our ordinary shares may not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to all of NASDAQ’s corporate governance requirements. For a description of the material corporate governance differences between the NASDAQ Rules and Cayman Islands law, see “Item 16G. Corporate Governance.”

ITEM 4.                    INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

Our legal and commercial name is SPI Energy Co., Ltd. Our principal executive office is located at #1128, 11/F, No. 52 Hung To Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China. Our telephone number at this address is +852 2291 6020 and our fax number is +852 2291 6030. Our registered office is situated at 4th Floor, Harbour Place, 103 South Church Street, PO Box 10240, George Town, Cayman Islands.

The Company was incorporated by SPI as a company limited by shares in the Cayman Islands on May 4, 2015. On January 4, 2016, we completed the redomiciliation of SPI to the Cayman Islands, whereby SPI merged with and into a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company and the holders of SPI common stock received ADS representing ordinary shares of the Company. As a result, the former shareholders of SPI became the beneficial owners of the capital stock of the Company, and the Company, together with our subsidiaries, now own and continue to conduct SPI’s business in substantially the same manner as was conducted by SPI and its subsidiaries. The Company is also managed by substantially the same board of directors and executive officers that managed SPI previously.

We raised a significant amount of cash for our working capital purposes from the issuance of shares of SPI’s common stock and convertible notes in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to non-U.S. investors in private placements. In those periods, we entered into various private placement share purchase agreements and option agreements with a number of non-U.S. investors and issued approximately 14.6 million unregistered shares or options to purchase shares of SPI’s common stock in reliance on Regulation S of the Securities Act, or Regulation S, mostly at a per share purchase price benchmarked to the prevailing trading price of SPI’s shares at the respective dates of these agreements, and raised an aggregate of $401.58 million. We also raised $55.0 million of cash by issuing unregistered convertible notes to non-U.S. investors in reliance of Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (“Regulations S”) in 2014 and 2015. In January 2016, we raised $5 million by issuing 2.5 million ordinary shares, in reliance on Regulation S, to a non-U.S. investor who exercised an option to purchase our ordinary shares pursuant to an option agreement with our Company. In September 2016, we entered into share purchase agreements with certain existing shareholders, including certain members of our management and other investors, pursuant to which we agreed to issue and sell an aggregate of 386.1 million ordinary shares for a total consideration of approximately $100 million. In January 2017, we completed approximately $0.881 million of its $100 million private placement. The investors in these transactions have advised us that they no longer wish to close on these transactions.

On January 17, 2019, we entered into share purchase agreements with certain existing shareholders (including certain key management personnel of the Company) and other investors (collectively, the “Purchasers”), pursuant to which the Purchasers agreed to purchase an aggregate of 6,600,000 ordinary shares of the Company at a price of US$1.16 per Share, for a total consideration of approximately $7.7 million. The transaction was closed on April 12, 2019. Those shares were being offered and sold to private investors, on a private placement basis in reliance on Regulation S. Those shares have not been and will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration. Net proceeds from the sale of those shares are intended to be used for expansion of our global PV project activities and general corporate purposes.

Between January 19, 2016 and September 18, 2017, our ADSs were listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol of “SPI”. The Bank of New York Mellon, the depositary bank for the ADS facility, terminated our ADS facility on September 18, 2017. Following such termination, we listed our ordinary shares, par value US$0.0001 per share, for trading on NASDAQ Global Select Market in substitution for our ADSs. On September 19, 2017, our ordinary shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol of “SPI”.

On January 1, 2017, we deconsolidated Sinsin due to loss of control.

In September 2017, we entered into a framework share purchase agreement to acquire 100% equity interests of three Greek companies, namely THERMI SUN S.A, HELIOHRISI S.A., and HELIOSTIXIO S.A., from THERMI TANEO Venture Capital Fund (“TTVCF”), for a total consideration of EUR 16.8 million, subject to certain adjustments. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. These three companies own a total of four PV plants with 7.4MWp PV installations in northern Greece. The closing of the transaction took place in three separate stages (one for each company under acquisition). The acquisition of HELIOSTIXIO S.A. was closed in December 2017. The Company completed the second-stage acquisition of 100% of the equity interest of HELIOHRISI S.A., which owns 1.988 MW of photovoltaic projects in Greece on March 20 2019. The last of three acquisitions of 100% of the equity interest of THERMI SUN S.A., which owns 4.4 Megawatts (“MW”) of photovoltaic (“PV”) projects in Greece, was closed in November 1, 2019. With 7.4MWp PV installations added to SPI Energy’s existing PV portfolio in Greece, the Company becomes one of the significant PV owners in Greece.

On December 10, 2018, we divested all our business and operations in China for nominal consideration due to the significant liabilities in the business.

On July 23 2019, the Company entered into a framework agreement to acquire up to eight solar PV projects, totaling 21MW in the State of Oregon (the “Oregon Portfolio”). On August 26, 2019, the Company completed the closing of Manchester and Waterford solar projects with a total of approximately 5.4MW. On September 10, 2019, the Company completed the closing on the Belvedere project with approximately 3.56MW of clean energy for the local community. On September 24, 2019, the Company completed the closing of the Dover and Clayfield solar projects with a total of approximately 5.45MW. On April 22, 2020, the Company completed the acquisition of the Cork project with a total of approximately 1.5MW. The Company has now closed 6 of the 8 projects within the Oregon Portfolio.

On September 26, 2019, the Company completed the closing on the sale of Sun Roof II and Sun Roof V to Theia Investments (Italy) S.r.l. (“Theia”) a company established by an infrastructure fund managed by Stafford Capital Partners (“Stafford”), a leading private markets investment and advisory group. Sun Roof II, comprised of three rooftop solar projects totaling 1.83 MW located in Sassari, Italy, and Sun Roof V, a 1 MW rooftop solar project located in Cisterna di Latina, Italy, have been in operation since 2012. Theia paid approximately EUR4.3 million to complete the transaction. On March 16, 2020, the Company completed the closing of the sale of its Sun Roof I assets, a 479 kWp rooftop solar project located in Aprilia, Italy, that has been in operation since 2012. Proceeds from the sale were approximately EUR 1.1 million before transaction fees, strengthening the Company’s balance sheet and providing additional capital for the development of solar assets in the US and Greece. After the sale of Sun Roof II, Sun Roof V and Sun Roof I, the Company currently owns only 1 PV asset with a capacity of 0.993 MW in Italy.

Nasdaq Compliance

On March 23, 2020, the Company received a notification letter from Nasdaq indicating that the Company is not in compliance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5450(b)(3)(C) for continued listing because the market value of its publicly held shares (“MVPHS”) was less than $15 million. Normally, the Company would be eligible for a 180 day compliance period to regain the compliance. On April 17, 2020, the Company received a notification letter from Nasdaq indicating that the Company will have 156 calendar days from July 1, 2020, or until December 3, 2020 to regain compliance with the Nasdaq’s market value of publicly held shares (“MVPHS”) requirement. The Notice also stated that Nasdaq has determined to toll the compliance periods for bid price and MVPHS requirements (collectively, the “Price-based Requirements”) through June 30, 2020. As a result, companies presently in compliance periods for any Price-based Requirements will remain at that same stage of the process and will not be subject to being delisted for these concerns. Starting on July 1, 2020, companies will receive the balance of any pending compliance period in effect at the start of the tolling period to regain compliance. Accordingly, since the Company had 156 calendar days remaining in its MVPHS compliance period as of April 16, 2020, it will, upon reinstatement of the Price-based Requirements, still have 156 calendar days from July 1, 2020, or until December 3, 2020, to regain compliance. The Notices have no immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s securities. The Company can regain compliance at any time before December 3, 2020 by evidencing compliance with the MVPHS requirement for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days.

On April 28, 2020, the Company received a notification letter from Nasdaq notifying the Company that its bid price per ordinary share had been below $1.00 for a period of 30 consecutive business days and, therefore, that the Company did not meet the minimum bid price requirement set forth in Rule 5450(a)(1) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules. Normally, the Company would be eligible for a 180 day compliance period to regain the compliance.

Given current market conditions, Nasdaq previously determined to toll the compliance periods for Price-based Requirements through June 30, 2020. As a result, the Company will, upon reinstatement of the Price-based Requirements, still have 180 calendar days from July 1, 2020, or until December 28, 2020, to regain compliance.

The Notices have no immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s securities. The Company can regain compliance at any time before December 28, 2020 by evidencing compliance with the bid price requirement for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days.

We are a global provider of PV solutions for business, residential, government and utility customers and investors. We provide a full spectrum of EPC services to third party project developers, as well as develop, own and operate solar projects that sell electricity to the grid in multiple countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Greece, Japan and Italy. Prior to 2014, we were primarily engaged in providing EPC services to developers in the U.S. We were also engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of a variety of PV modules, the key components of solar parks that convert sunlight into electricity, and balance-of-system components, including our in-house brand. We have discontinued our manufacturing business and liquidated our research and development function. Beginning in 2014, we expanded our global project development business by ramping up our portfolio of global solar projects, including projects that we plan to hold in the long term and derive electricity generation revenue from our independent power producer model, or IPP model, and projects that we plan to sell in the future when we are presented with attractive opportunities under our build-and-transfer model, or BT model. We grow our project portfolio primarily through acquisitions and act as a secondary developer for the projects which are under construction or in pipeline upon acquisition. Solar projects in our current portfolio include projects at all stages of development, including projects in operation, projects under construction and projects in pipeline. See “—Our Global Project Development Business—Our Solar Project Portfolio.”

For our EPC service business, the scope of our work encompasses engineering design procurement of technical components from PV module and panel manufacturers and contracting of construction and installation, which reaches both upstream and downstream along the spectrum of the solar business value chain. Our rigorous design and supply chain management as well as construction quality control enable us to design, build and deliver world-class solar system configurations with components that can work optimally together.

For our global project development business, as of June 29, 2020, we had completed a series of acquisitions of solar projects that were in operation, consisting of (i) 26.6 MW of projects in Greece, acquired in December 2014 for a total consideration of $79.330 million including the rights to be awarded up to 360MW EPC contracts, (ii) 4.3 MW of projects in Italy, acquired in February 2015 for a total consideration of $11.8 million, (iii) 1.082 MW, 1.988 MW and 4.4MW of projects in Greece, acquired in December 2017, March 2019 and November 2019 respectively, for a total consideration of EUR 12.88 million ($14.46 million), (iv) 0.2744 MW of projects in Japan, acquired in July 2017 for a total consideration of JPY 110 million ($ 0.98 million) and (v) a total of 15.77 MW DC of projects in the state of Oregon, US, acquired in August, September 2019 and April 2020 respectively for a total consideration of $1.3 million.

From January 2019 to December 31, 2019, we sold 1 solar project in Japan (1.99MW) to a third party at the consideration of $9.56 million, which has been recognized as revenue accordingly. On September 26, 2019, we sold Sun Roof II comprised of three rooftop solar projects totaling 1.83 MW, and Sun Roof V with1 MW rooftop solar project in Italy at the consideration of EUR4.3 million. On March 16, 2020, we sold Sun Roof I, a 479 kWp rooftop solar project located in Italy at the consideration of EUR1.1 million before transaction fees. After the sale of Sun Roof II, Sun Roof V and Sun Roof I, the Company currently owns only 1 PV asset with a capacity of 0.993 MW in Italy.

As of the date of this report, we are constructing an aggregate of 19.636 MW of projects in the U.S. under our BT model. We anticipate that the U.S. project will be connected to the grid in 2021.

We had 10.24MW of projects in announced pipeline as of June 29, 2020. See “—Our Global Project Development Business—Our Solar Project Portfolio.” We expect to complete the acquisition of, or commence permitting processes for, our projects in announced pipeline as soon as practicable. We believe these new additions, combined with our existing project portfolio, demonstrate our broad geographic reach and established presence across key solar markets and mitigate country-specific risks.

We divested all our operations in China in December 2018 for nominal consideration due to the significant liabilities in the business.

Deconsolidation

On January 1, 2017, we deconsolidated Sinsin due to loss of control.

Disposition of China Assets

On August 30, 2018, the Company entered into a share purchase agreement (the “SPA”) with Lighting Charm Limited (the “Buyer”), an affiliate of Ms. Shan Zhou, the spouse of Xiaofeng Peng, the Company’s Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. The SPA was approved by an independent committee of the Company’s Board of Directors and the transactions contemplated by the SPA closed on December 10, 2018. Pursuant to the terms of the SPA, the Company sold to the Buyer 100% of the shares of SPI China (HK) Limited (“SPI China”), which held all of the Company’s assets and liabilities related to its business in China (the “Acquired China Business”). These assets include EPC business, PV projects, Internet finance lease related business, and E-commerce in China.

In connection with the transaction, a pre-closing restructuring was accomplished. The pre-closing restructuring resulted in: (1) SolarJuice Co., Ltd., a 100% wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, acquiring 80% of the equity interests in Solar Juice Pty Limited, a holding company which holds all the assets of the Company in Australia; (2) the Company acquiring all of the equity interests in Solar Power Inc. UK Service Limited, a holding company which holds all the assets of the Company in UK; (3) SPI Orange Power (Cyprus) Limited, a 100% wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, acquiring all of the equity interests in SPI Renewable Energy (Luxembourg) Private Limited Company S.a.r.l., a holding company which holds part of the assets of the Company in Italy; (4) SPI Orange Power (Cyprus) Limited acquiring all the equity interests in ItalsolarS.r.l, a company which holds a portion of the assets of the Company in Italy; (5) the Company acquiring all of the equity interests of Sinsin, a holding company which held all the assets of the Company in Greece; and (6) SPI Group Holding Co., Ltd., a 100% wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, acquiring 97% of the equity interests in SPI Solar Japan G.K.

On December 10, 2018, the Company and the Buyer executed the bought and sold notes and instrument of transfer relating to the shares in SPI China. Upon the execution of the bought and sold notes, the equitable title to the shares in SPI China past to the Buyer and until the legal title is transferred, the Company held the shares in SPI China on trust for the Buyer. On April 30, 2019, the legal title transfer was completed and the Buyer became the owner of the shares in SPI China.

Crypto Mining Hosting

In early 2018, we launched www.umining.io, a turnkey solution offering global crypto-mining hosting, training, sales, and repair services. As of December 31, 2019, we had 2 pilot mining sites in Canada and the U.S. We continue to look for potential investments to increase our mining capacity by the end of 2020

Hemp and CBD Business

In September 2019, the Company launched its newly established hemp and CBD business. The Company has executed a management services agreement with the Native American Agricultural Company (“NAAC”) to cultivate hemp in the Navajo Nation; and obtained licenses from the Navajo Nation to engage in lab testing, cultivation, processing, wholesale distribution, and retail sales of hemp. In January 2020, the Company completed the installation of its cannabidiol extraction and milling equipment at an approximately 25,000-sqft facility in Orange Cove, Fresno County in California. The newly installed CBD processing equipment is designed to enable the production of Hemp dry flower and Pre-roll, CBD crude oil, distillate, and isolate, serving the growers in California. The pre-production test runs of its CBD crude oil extraction and Hemp try flower and Pre-roll production process and quality control review have been completed. Currently, the Company is taking the orders from customers.

Business of Alfalfa and Other Related Agriculture Products

In May 2019, the Company announced to explore agriculture business for productions, sales or marketing of alfalfa and other related agriculture products in Arizona. Knight Holding Corporation is focused on becoming one of the largest global providers of alfalfa hay and other forage types. With China’s increasing demand for American alfalfa hay, we have recognized the importance of exporting to the Asia market. Committing ourselves to successfully becoming a major supplier of alfalfa, we have established a processing facility in Tonopah, Arizona. Our alfalfa pressing facility sits in the center of the Harquahala Valley, located in Western Maricopa County.

Engineering Design

As a critical first step in the EPC process, engineering design involves the planning of the entire solar project, from feasibility studies of the land and irradiation levels to efficient arrangement of mounting, modules and connection systems. Our technical team takes responsibility over initial solar project engineering with support from third-party contractors. The engineering design process includes the site layout and the electrical design, as well as assessment of a variety of factors in order to choose appropriate technologies and equipment for the project, particularly modules and inverters. Throughout the engineering design phase, we aim to reduce the risks, control the costs and improve the performance of our EPC projects.

Procurement and Construction

In order to focus on our core downstream development and EPC service businesses, we no longer manufacture PV modules or produce other equipment such as controllers, inverters and balance of system components. Rather, we procure them from third-party manufacturers and install them in our PV systems as part of our EPC business.

We procure PV modules and other key equipment for project construction from independent suppliers and contract work to third-party EPC contractors in areas such as logistics, installation, construction and supervision. We believe this allows us to focus our resources on higher value-added tasks. We maintain an updated list of qualified and reliable global suppliers and local third-party contractors in the areas where we operate with a proven track record and with which we have established relationships.

We choose our suppliers and third-party EPC contractors through a competitive bidding process. The relevant departments of our headquarters organize and collect bids, communicate with bidders and coordinate with our regional development teams to meet local technical and legal requirements. This helps ensure that we have a strong, reliable and experienced supplier and construction team working with us on each of our EPC project.

Procurement of PV Modules and Other Equipment

We apply stringent quality assurance protocols to select components with a long useful life that are compatible with a variety of parameters of the project, including local topography and local solar irradiation.

PV modules, the primary equipment of our solar projects, typically contribute to a substantial portion of the overall system costs. We procure our PV modules from a wide array of suppliers including Trina Solar Limited, JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., Xiexin Integration Technology Co., Ltd., JA Solar Holding Co., Ltd., LG Electronics, and Chint, among others.

We consider the following factors when we procure project equipment: technical specifications (such as size, type and power output), bid prices, warranty and insurance programs, spectral response, performance in low light, nominal power tolerance levels, degradation rate, technical support and reputation of suppliers. We typically require 10-year warranties for defects in materials or workmanship and 25-year warranty for module capacity under normal testing conditions (2-3% of capacity for the first year with a 0.5-0.8% linear degradation in capacity every year thereafter).

We are generally required to pay 100% of the purchase price within a period ranging from three months to six months after receipt, inspection and acceptance of the PV modules. We typically pay manufacturers deposits that represent 10% to 50% of the total purchase price.

Construction Contracting

When acting as a general contractor, we generally outsource the construction of our PV power plants to third-party construction companies and closely monitor their execution of our designs. Most of these companies are specialized EPC construction subcontractors. Our construction oversight teams conduct constructability reviews, provide construction support, contract administration and document control services, construction inspection, engineering support, instrumentation installation and monitoring, and on-site construction supervision and monitoring.

We utilize a number of metrics to manage and monitor the performance of our third-party contractors in terms of both quality and delivery time and to ensure compliance with applicable safety and other requirements. For instance, we may delegate qualified representatives to review, supervise, organize and provide comments on the third-party contractor’s design, construction plan, construction guidelines, materials and documentations. We also conduct periodic inspections to examine project implementation and quality against our project planning and quality standards and prepare periodic reports for review and approval by our relevant departments. If we identify any quality or progress issues that are attributable to the work of our third-party contractors, we will follow-up with them and monitor their rectification work.

Those third-party contractors are responsible for the quality of the project and must maintain relevant insurance designating us as the beneficiary. They must ensure the project complies with all local safety, labor and environmental laws and regulations. We examine and keep records of the production-related safety documentation and insurance policies of our third-party contractors. All production-related tools and equipment used by our third-party contractors must be compliant with and certified by applicable regulatory standards. The contractors submit detailed quality assurance procedures and regularly updates us on the progress, quality and safety of the project. Our third-party contractors utilize a variety of measures to protect the project location, including the transmission line, built facilities and infrastructure, from damage during the construction process.

We are generally entitled to damages if our third-party contractors fail to meet the prescribed requirements and deadlines under our contracts. We usually negotiate to pay our third-party contractors the remaining 5% or 10% of the contract price after the expiration of the quality warranty period, which generally ranges from one to two years. If we pay the full contract price upon completion of a project, we require the contractor to provide a performance guarantee in respect of the warranty obligations for such project.

Commissioning and Warranties

We assess and evaluate our solar projects before completion. Upon completion of construction, we conduct commissioning tests prior to grid connection. The tests include a detailed visual inspection of all significant aspects of the plant, an open circuit voltage test and a short circuit current test, and then a direct-current test after connecting to the grid. We focus commissioning tests on the quality of the construction and major equipment. These tests are conducted in order to ensure that the plant is structurally and electrically safe, and is sufficiently robust to operate as designed for the specified project lifetime.

After grid connection, we also conduct commissioning tests on electricity generation performance. As grid connection requires approval from power companies, post-grid connection commissioning tests are also conducted by local quality supervisors or third-parties approved by the power companies. In addition to the warranties provided by the manufacturers of modules and balance-of-system components, EPC contractors also typically provide a limited warranty against defects in workmanship, engineering design, and installation services under normal use and service conditions for a period of one to two years following the energizing of a section of a solar power plant or upon substantial completion of the entire solar power plant. In resolving claims under the workmanship, design and installation warranties, the new owner has the option of remedying the defect to the warranted level through repair, refurbishment, or replacement.

Our Global Project Development Business

We develop and sell or own and operate solar projects which sell electricity to the grid in multiple countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Greece, Japan and Italy. In 2014, we expanded our global project development business by ramping up our portfolio of global solar projects, including projects that we plan to hold in the long term for electricity generation revenue under our IPP model, as well as projects which we plan to sell in the future when we are presented with attractive opportunities under our BT model. We grow our project portfolio primarily through acquisitions and our project acquisition strategy is based on rigorous market research and due diligence on the target project’s capacity, local energy demands, applicable tariff regime, supporting infrastructure, local government support and topography for construction in the case of projects under construction and projects in pipeline. We also consider available financing options, internal rate of return, key technical components, terms of the grid connection agreements and power purchase agreements, or PPAs, as well as guarantees on performance for projects in all development stages. We act as secondary developer for the projects under construction or in pipeline when they are acquired. We either hold these projects in the long term for electricity generation revenue or sell them when presented with attractive opportunities.

We had an aggregate 46.676 MW of projects in the U.S., the U.K., Greece, Japan and Italy as of June 29, 2020. We divested all of our business in China in December 2018.

Most of our solar projects are subject to the FIT or PPA policies of the countries or regions where they operate. FIT refers to the national and local subsidies to solar power generation supported by the government. PPA refers to power purchase agreement with electricity company. For the FIT terms of our projects, please refer to “—Our Solar Project Portfolio.”

Our Solar Project Portfolio

We expect our solar projects to have operational lives of 25 to 27 years. As of June 29, 2020, our solar project portfolio consisted of:

The following summary sets forth our solar projects in operation, solar projects under construction and solar projects in announced pipeline as of June 29, 2020. For more recent development of the solar projects portfolio and potential sale of our solar projects, please see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—B. Liquidity and Capital Resources—Capital Resources and Material Known Facts on Liquidity.”

Solar Projects in Operation*

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*       The PPA agreements fix the FIT during the first 20 years of operation and will drop to EUR 0.09/ KWh after the 20th year for the next 7 subsequent years. The FIT will be charged based on the relevant law in force in Greece. The current law in force is law4254/2014. According the monthly FIT statements by the electricity supply bureau in Greece, the FIT range of the PV plants was EUR0.19~0.20/kWh in 2014. Sinsin was deconsolidated in the year of 2017 due to loss of control.

Solar Projects Under Construction*

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As of December 31, 2019, we had capital commitments of approximately $5.1 million. As the total capital expenditure may be affected by various factors including, among others, increases in cost of key equipment and materials, failure to obtain sufficient financing, unexpected engineering or environmental issues as well as changes in regulatory requirements, the actual total capital expenditure may deviate significantly from such estimates. We expect to finance construction of these projects using cash from our operations and private placements, bank borrowings, financial leases as well as other third-party financing options.

Solar Projects in Announced Pipeline*

As of June 29, 2020, we were in the process of obtaining relevant regulatory approvals for the following self-developed and acquired solar projects:

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We sold all of our solar projects in China in connection with the sale of our Chinese business in December 2018.

Featured Markets

The following table sets forth a breakdown of our net sales by geographic location of customers for the periods indicated:

Acquisition of Solar Projects

We made significant acquisitions of solar projects since 2017. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—Operating Results—Recent Acquisition Activities” on the projects we have acquired or expect to acquire. We may keep acquiring completed solar projects or other assets from independent third-parties which we believe will synergize with our existing operations and expansion strategies. Those acquisitions would be preapproved by our board.

Our board of directors has formulated a uniform standard for assessing target assets with respect to the acquisition of solar projects, and such standard may be adjusted based on our Company’s business, financial condition and results of operations from time to time. Our board of directors considers the following criteria when assessing potential acquisitions, among others:

Market Due Diligence

We aim to select solar projects located at sites with long solar irradiation hours, high energy demand, good supporting infrastructure, favorable tariff regimes, local government support and appropriate topography for construction. We systematically analyze land cost, solar irradiation, grid connection capacity, land and property status, government support, availability of project financing and any other project information that would impact the overall economic return of the project. We target projects that we believe to have appropriate balance of financial returns, costs and risks.

Permit Development Process

The permit development process is the process of obtaining all required permits, certifications and approvals from relevant government authorities for solar project development. As of December 31, 2019, most of our solar projects in operation had been undertaken by us as a secondary developer.

We acquire solar projects under development by third parties which have secured land use rights, development permits, or even begun construction. We typically learn about potential projects suitable for secondary development from our business partners, national or local governments, industry publications, overseas engineering exhibitions or overseas business liaison organizations. Our criteria for sourcing solar projects include land cost, solar irradiation, availability of FIT benefits or other government incentives, grid connection capacity, local financing opportunities and other project information. The selection process involves detailed due diligence into those third parties’ relevant company documentation, financial projections and the legal status of permits already secured by the project.

After an acquisition, we continue to develop the project through grid connection as our own. We pursue secondary permit development in markets with relatively liquid markets for energy permits transfer, thus allowing a smooth transfer of pre-operational solar assets from third-party developers to us. Under certain circumstances, we negotiate site acquisition, preliminary permits, grid connection agreements and PPAs for projects under our secondary development model depending on the development stage when we acquire them.

Permit Development Steps

The following sets forth each step of our permit development:

Project Financing

A solar project sponsor typically sets up a project company as a special purpose vehicle to own a particular solar project and arrange for project financing. We typically enter into contracts and other agreements under the name of the project company, which facilitates project financing by isolating the project and its assets, and any potential securitization requirements, from our broader global business.

The construction cost of a project is mainly funded by our working capital, and to a lesser extent, funded through bank borrowings in the year ended December 31, 2019. We seek to negotiate favorable credit terms with our equipment suppliers and EPC contractors when possible, such that payment is not due until several months after construction and grid connection are complete. While the exact mix of external and internal financing varies from project to project, we estimate that as of December 31, 2019, approximately 50% to 60% of the total costs of our solar projects under construction were funded by our working capital, with the remainder funded through bank borrowings. Our working capital dedicated towards a particular project would be generally available to us for other purposes if needed, and would not be considered restricted cash isolated at that project. We also have given guarantees to the lenders on certain project financings. However, none of our cash and cash equivalents have been collateralized to guarantee such project financings.

We generally seek to arrange debt financing for our solar projects from local banks and financial leasing companies in countries that are more open and receptive to renewable energy investments.

Engineering, Procurement and Construction

Given the multi-jurisdiction coverage of our project portfolio, we choose to utilize our EPC capabilities or contract third party EPC contractors to service our own projects, based on our cost analysis taking into consideration of locations, topographical conditions as well as the quality and competition of local EPC service providers. For detailed information on our EPC capabilities, see “—Our Engineering, Procurement and Construction Service Business.”

Operation and Maintenance Business

We operate and maintain solar projects connected to the grid, especially those we have provided EPC services to. We may choose to contract third party O&M contractors to service our own projects, based on our cost analysis taking into consideration of locations, topographical conditions as well as the quality and competition of local EPC service providers. We regularly maintain solar projects for our customers to ensure that these projects operate in good condition and comply with the recommendations issued by the grid company in order to remain connected.

By operating the projects effectively and efficiently, we reduce down time and increase electricity output. A project’s major lifecycle costs mainly consist of maintenance fee and depreciation of modules, inverters and transformers. We monitor electricity production and any incidents or abnormalities which may impede normal operation. We adjust production levels based on the available capacity of the grid.

Our Australia Distribution Business

Solar Juice Pty Limited or Solar Juice Australia is a wholesale distributor of Solar PV panels, solar inverters, components and complete solar systems, which was established in Australia in September 2009. It is one of the largest importers of solar related products in Australia with over 5000 B2B customers in every state and territory of Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. As of the date of this annual report, Solar Juice Australia has nine warehouses located around Australia.

Solar Juice Australia, as a wholesale supplier, has developed key partners which have supported the growth of its brands throughout Australia, New Zealand and SEA Countries. Solar Juice Australia aligns itself with the most popular brands SMA, Fronius, ABB, Solax, LG Electronics, LG Chem, Trina,JA and Chint, which have the same values as Solar Juice Australia, namely service and support, quality and value for money. Solar Juice Australia’s products are backed by warranties held in Australia, experience and knowledge which set it apart from the competition, and commitment to serving the customer’ needs. Solar Juice Australia’s own branded products Opal Panels, Opal Switch and Opal storage provided customers with more value for money choices.

After years’ continuous rapid growth, Solar Juice Australia faced a few external and internal challenges including PV market price fluctuation, limited working capital and suppliers’ credit in 2018. Solar Juice Australia’s management actively undertook an operational restructure to meet market changes, adjusted inventory level to fit working capital, cut operation costs and general expenses to keep profit margin. Solar Juice Australia’s inventory and trade payable balances were reduced by 14% and 38% respectively, borrowings decreased 17% after a replacement of previous trade finance with new debt finance from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2019. As a result, Solar Juice Australia successfully improved its operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness, achieved $0.55 million net profit target, with a stronger financial position by the end of 2019.

Solar Juice Australia will benefit from these improvements in long term and keep its leadership in premium PV market in Australia. In the meantime, Solar Juice Australia’s traditional strengths such as outstanding customer services, technical supports and warranty services will keep differentiating it from the competitors.

In May 2020, Solar Juice Co. Ltd (“Solar Juice Co”),a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, in its capacity as shareholder of Solar Juice Australia (an Australian company) together with Mr. Kun Fong Lee and Mr. Jinhan Zhou (who hold shares in Solar Juice Australia as trustee for Solar Juice Co) ("SPI Shareholders") commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia as plaintiffs against its other shareholders and some of its other directors and purported directors and against Solar Juice Australia ("Defendants") in relation to a purported new rights issue undertaken by Solar Juice Australia, the purported removal by those other shareholders of Mr. Lee and Mr. Zhou as directors of Solar Juice Australia and the purported appointment of an additional director. The SPI Shareholders allege that the purported new rights issue and the subsequent purported removal and appointment of directors are invalid and ineffective and therefore should be set aside. If effective, the purported rights issue will result in the SPI Shareholders' shareholding in Solar Juice Australia being reduced from 80% to 40%. If our lawsuit is not successful, we will not control Solar Juice Australia or be able to consolidate its financial results in our financial statements and our financial results and stock price will be materially adversely affected. Solar Juice currently accounts for 82.3% of our revenues and 15.7% of our total assets.

Competition

Solar Power Market

The solar power market is intensely competitive and rapidly evolving, and we compete with major international and domestic companies over the development of solar projects. Our major competitors include leading global players such as SunPower Corporation, First Solar, Inc., Canadian Solar, Inc., SunEdison, Inc., SolarCity Corporation, Lightsource Renewable Energy Limited, and regional players such as West Holdings Corporation, Looop Inc., and other regional and international developers.

We believe that we can compete favorably with our competitors given that the key competitive factors for solar project development and operation include, without limitation:

However, we cannot guarantee that some of our competitors do not or will not have advantages over us in terms of greater operational, financial, technical, management or other resources in particular markets or in general. In terms of the broader energy sector, the entire solar industry faces competition from other power generation sources, including conventional sources as well as other emerging technologies. Solar power has certain advantages and disadvantages when compared to other power generating technologies. The advantages include the ability to deploy products in many sizes and configurations, install products almost anywhere in the world, provide reliable power for many applications and reduce air, water and noise pollution. Yet other energy sources have advantages which may result in electric utilities, grid companies or other off-takers to enter PPAs or other electricity purchase arrangements with companies specializing in those energy sources rather than us or other companies specializing in solar power.

Cryptocurrency Hosting Services

Cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency mining are new industries, the competitive landscapes are still developing. Although the barriers to entry in this market are low, most of the large cryptocurrency mining farms such as HIVE Blockchain, Hut8Mining, NVIDIA, Bitfury Mines, Bcause LLC and Bitmain, cater to large investors.

However, cryptocurrency mining still requires large amounts of energy to sustain. Our competitive advantage as a green energy producing company in this industry would be being able to offset the high electrical bills required in the mining process by providing energy from our own energy grids and solar farms.  

Hemp and CBD Business

Hemp and CBD are also relatively new industries that sprung up due to the legalization of recreational marijuana in many states across the United States. Being one of the first energy companies to venture into this industry, our competitive advantage in this area is being able to supplement energy needs of CBD and Hemp production from our own energy grids or solar farms. This will offset a significant portion of the costs required for production that can potentially help us to price more competitively against other companies in the industry. However, the CBD and Hemp industry is still in its early stages of development. The demand of these products have not solidified and the growth of the industry is not as strong as its recreational marijuana counterpart.

Business of Alfalfa and Other Related Agriculture Products

Our in-depth research into this market has shown that there is a growing demand for Alfalfa grass, especially in Eastern countries like China. Alfalfa grass is commonly used as stock feed for farmed animals like cows. Our history of operations in China has helped us to gain partners and grow a solid customer base over the years. Our knowledge of the Chinese market will also prove to be valuable in this venture.

Suppliers

There are numerous suppliers of PV modules in the solar power industry, and we have adopted a supplier-neutral approach. For both our EPC service business and global project development business, we select the suppliers based on whether we could obtain high-quality PV modules and balance-of-system components at favorable prices and payment terms. For both our EPC service and global project development business, we procure our PV modules from a broad range of suppliers including Trina Solar Limited, JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd., Xiexin Integration Technology Co., Ltd., JA Solar Holding Co., Ltd., LG Electronics, and Chint, among others.

Our major suppliers of our alfalfa business and CBD and hemp is the local growers near our hay processing facilities in the state of Arizona and also CBD & hemp processing facility in the state of California.

Customers and Marketing

We have historically provided EPC and O&M services, a line of business we are still engaged in. We are also selling electricity to the grid under our IPP model as well as selling solar projects under our BT model. Customers of our EPC services include independent power developers and producers as well as commercial and industrial companies. For our global project development business, we sell electricity to power companies and other electricity off-takers, including government-owned utility companies, operating in the United States, Greece and Italy under our IPP model. Purchasers of our BT projects included utility companies, independent power developers and producers, commercial and industrial companies as well as investors in the solar business. Further, customers of our Australia distribution business include residential ones, towards which we distribute PV modules, balance of system components, solar monitoring systems and inverters.

From the year 2018 to 2019, there is a slightly decrease in the proportion of revenue from sales of PV solar systems, the figures for sales of PV solar components also saw a slight downwards trend.

We promote our reputation by participating in industry conferences worldwide and aggressively sourcing development opportunities in markets with strong growth potential. Members of our senior and local management team routinely meet with industry players and interested investors. Our business development teams around the world have significant experience building business in local markets and actively pursue growth opportunities around the world. We intend to continue to increase our marketing efforts going forward.

We historically engaged in high-profile marketing activities focused on developing our brand awareness not just among the solar business developers who have traditionally been our customers, but also among the general public. Since we have been in solar business for 14 years, we have built our brand awareness and lately we have not engaged in marketing activities.

Seasonality

Demand for solar power products tends to be weaker during the winter months partly due to adverse weather conditions in certain regions, which complicate the installation of solar power systems. Our operating results may fluctuate from period to period based on the seasonality of industry demand for solar power products. Certain aspects of our operations are also subject to seasonal variations. For example, we may schedule significant construction activities to connect solar projects to the grids prior to a scheduled decrease in FIT rates in order to qualify for more favorable FIT policies.

Likewise to hemp and CBD business, demand and our operating results for hemp and CBD products fluctuate from period to period based on the seasonality of industry demand for solar power products.

Insurance

We maintain the types and amounts of insurance coverage that we believe are consistent with customary industry practices in all the countries where we operate. Our insurance policies cover employee-related accidents and injuries, property damage, machinery breakdowns, fixed assets, facilities and liability deriving from our activities, including environmental liability. We maintain business interruption insurance for interruptions resulting from incidents covered by insurance policies. We have not had any material claims under our insurance policies that would either invalidate our insurance policies or cause a material increase to our insurance premiums. We cannot assure you, however, that our insurance coverage will adequately protect us from all risks that may arise or in amounts sufficient to prevent any material loss.

Regulations

We operate in multiple jurisdictions, including the U.S., Japan, the U.K, Greece, Italy and Australia. We are therefore subject to complex laws, regulations and policies promulgated by the governments and government-run utilities of these jurisdictions, including FIT regulations, clean energy incentive rules and programs, laws and regulations that apply to all power producers, regulations that specifically apply to solar power project operators, EPC service providers as well as solar kit distributors, tax regulations and intellectual property laws, among others. Likewise, our hemp and CBD businesses are subject to various laws, regulations and guidelines by governmental authorities relating to, among other things, the manufacture, marketing, management, transportation, storage, sale, pricing and disposal of cannabis, U.S. hemp and cannabis-based products, and also including laws, regulations and guidelines relating to health and safety, insurance coverage, the conduct of operations and the protection of the environment.

The following table sets out our principal subsidiaries as of December 31, 2019:

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Notes:

Our global corporate headquarters are located in Hong Kong SAR, China, which is under a one-year lease that expires on May 3, 2021. We occupy approximately 3,332 square feet of office space in Santa Clara, California, for legal and business development, under a lease that expires in June 30, 2021. We occupy approximately 10.5 acre industrial property in Orange Cove, California, under a lease that expires in December 31 2049, and be granted an option to purchase the property. We owned approximately 120 acre land in Arizona, US. We occupy approximately 114 square meters of office space in Athens, the headquarters of the four Greek SPVs, under a monthly lease that expires on June 30, 2020. We occupy approximately 80 square feet of office space in London for operations and business development under a lease which renews every six months. We lease approximately 2,155 square meters of office space and warehouse space in Wetherill Park, Sydney, which expires on July 31, 2021.

ITEM 4A. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

ITEM 5. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS

You should read the following discussion and analysis in conjunction with our financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere in this annual report on Form 20-F. This discussion may contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those set forth under “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors” or in other parts of this annual report on Form 20-F.

We are a global provider of photovoltaic (PV) solutions for business, residential, government and utility customers and investors. We develop solar PV projects which are either sold to third party operators or owned and operated by us for selling of electricity to the grid in multiple countries in Asia, North America and Europe. In Australia, we primarily sell solar PV components to retail customers and solar project developers. Since 2018, we have engaged in the sale of bitcoin mining equipment, providing hosting services to mine bitcoins. In 2019, we began selling hay from the United States to China.

Our liquidity position has deteriorated since 2015. We suffered losses of $91.0 million, $12.3 million and $15.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. We also had an accumulated deficit of $585.4 million and a working capital deficit of $113.5 million as of December 31, 2019. For a detailed discussion, please see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects—B. Liquidity and Capital Resources—Capital Resources and Material Known Facts on Liquidity.”

These may raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. We have developed a liquidity plan, including cost saving measures and improvements in working capital management. We believe this liquidity plan, if executed successfully, will provide sufficient liquidity to meet our obligations for a reasonable period of time. However, we cannot assure you that this liquidity plan will be successfully executed.

Principal Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations

We believe that the following factors have had, and we expect that they will continue to have, a significant effect on the development of our business, financial condition and results of operations.

COVID-19

The pandemic of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has resulted in a widespread health crisis that has adversely affected the economies and financial markets worldwide. Government efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus through lockdowns of cities, business closures, restrictions on travel and emergency quarantines, among others, and responses by businesses and individuals to reduce the risk of exposure to infection, including reduced travel, cancellation of meetings and events, and implementation of work-at-home policies, among others, have caused significant disruptions to the global economy and normal business operations across a growing list of sectors and countries.

Our operating results substantially depend on revenues derived from sales of PV project assets, provision of electricity and our Australian subsidiary’s trading of PV components. As the COVID-19 spread continues, the measures implemented to curb the spread of the virus have resulted in supply chain disruptions, insufficient work force and suspended manufacturing and construction works for solar industry. One or more of our customers, partners, service providers or suppliers may experience financial distress, delayed or defaults on payment, file for bankruptcy protection, sharp diminishing of business, or suffer disruptions in their business due to the outbreak. These preventative measures have also impacted our daily operations. The efforts enacted to control COVID-19 have placed heavy pressure on our marketing and sales activities. Moreover, due to the decrease in prices of crude oil, the demand for solar energy can decrease in the near future. We continue to assess the related risks and impacts COVID-19 pandemic may have on our business and our financial performance. In light of the rapidly changing situation across different countries and regions, it remains difficult to estimate the duration and magnitude of COVID-19 impact. Until such time as the COVID-19 pandemic is contained or eradicated and global business return to more customary levels, our business and financial results may be materially adversely affected.

Market Demand

Our revenue and profitability depend substantially on the demand for our PV solutions, which is driven by the economics of PV systems, including the availability and size of government subsidies and other incentives, government support, cost improvements in solar power, as well as environmental concerns and energy demand. The world PV market in terms of new annual installations is expected to grow significantly in the next five years, providing EPC service providers and solar project developers like us with significant opportunities to grow our business.

Many markets in the PV industry continue to be affected by government subsidies and economic incentives. A number of countries have introduced highly favorable FIT price support regimes. For example, Japan, which has a high demand for power and low domestic fossil fuel reserves, faces relatively high energy costs. As a result, the Japanese government has introduced an attractive FIT price support regime to encourage the development of solar parks. In 2016, the United Kingdom reduced its FIT for all technologies by 65% at the national level. In Asia, several countries reduced their FIT rates. For example, Japan reduced its solar FIT by 12.5% for 2017 and aims for cuts of 10% or more in the next two years. While governments generally ratchet down PV subsidies over time to reflect anticipated declines in the system costs of solar parks, the ratchet down schedules often underestimate our actual realized decrease in costs thus their effect on our margins is manageable. To foster our growth, we have shifted our focus away from countries with less favorable subsidy regimes and towards countries with more favorable subsidy regimes.

In the long term, as PV technology advances and the average system costs of solar projects decrease, we expect the market for electricity in a growing number of countries to achieve grid parity. As the PV industry becomes more competitive against other energy industries and widespread grid parity strengthens demand for solar projects, we expect our costs of sales to decrease and our revenue and profitability to increase.

Government Subsidies and Incentive Policies

We believe that the growth of the solar power industry in the short term will continue to depend largely on the availability and effectiveness of government incentives for solar power products and the competitiveness of solar power in relation to conventional and other renewable energy resources in terms of cost. Countries in Europe, notably Italy, Germany, France, Belgium and Spain, certain countries in Asia, including Japan, India and South Korea, as well as Australia and the United States have adopted favorable renewable energy policies. Examples of government sponsored financial incentives to promote solar power include capital cost rebates, FIT, tax credits, net metering and other incentives to end users, distributors, project developers, system integrators and manufacturers of solar power products.

Governments may reduce or eliminate existing incentive programs for political, financial or other reasons, which will be difficult for us to predict. Reductions in FIT programs may result in a significant fall in the price of and demand for solar power related products. Our revenue and operating results may be adversely impacted by unfavorable policy revisions, such as reductions FIT in the United States, our largest market, and certain major markets for our PV solutions. Electric utility companies or generators of electricity from fossil fuels or other renewable energy sources could also lobby for a change in the relevant legislation in their markets to protect their revenue streams. Government economic incentives could be reduced or eliminated altogether.

Our Solar Power Generation and Operations Capabilities

Our financial condition and results of operations depend on our ability to successfully continue to develop new solar projects and operate our existing solar projects. We expect to build and manage a greater number of solar projects, which we expect to present additional challenges to our internal processes, external construction management, working capital management and financing capabilities. Our financial condition, results of operations and future success depend, to a significant extent, on our ability to continue to identify suitable sites, expand our pipeline of projects with attractive returns, obtain required regulatory approvals, arrange necessary financing, manage the construction of our solar projects on time and within budget, and successfully operate solar projects.

Selected Statement of Operations Items

Revenue

Our revenue for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019 was mainly derived from sales of PV project assets, sales of pre-development solar project, and sales of PV components.

The following table sets forth a breakdown of our revenue from continuing operation by category of activities for the periods indicated:

Cost of Goods Sold

Our cost of goods sold consist primarily of raw materials and labor cost. In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, we had cost of goods sold of $111.4 million, $114.5 million and $90.7 million from our continuing operation, respectively.

Operating Expenses

In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, our operating expenses consisted of (1) general and administrative expenses, (2) sales, marketing and customer service expenses, (3) impairment charges and (4) provision (reverse) for doubtful accounts, notes and other receivables.

General and administrative expenses. Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and share based compensation expense, professional service fees, rental and office supplies expenses. In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, our general and administrative expenses from our continuing operations were $14.0 million, $12.2 million and $15.2 million, respectively.

Sales, marketing and customer service expenses. Our sales, marketing and customer service expenses consist primarily of advertising expense, business development expense and salaries. In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, our sales, marketing and customer service expenses from continuing operation were $2.9 million, $2.3 million and $2.4 million, respectively.

Impairment charges. Our impairment charges consist of impairment charges for project assets, goodwill and intangible assets, property, plant and equipment and etc. In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, our impairment charges from our continuing operations were $0.7 million, $nil and $4.7 million, respectively.

Provision (reverse) for doubtful accounts, notes and other receivables. In the year ended December 31, 2017, our provision for doubtful accounts and notes from continuing operations were $1.7 million. In the year ended December 31, 2018, we reversed the provision of $0.5 million. In the year ended December 31, 2019 our provision for doubtful accounts were of $4.1 million.

Other Income (Expense)

In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, our other income (expense) includes interest expense, interest income, gain on extinguishment of convertible bonds, change in fair value of derivative liability, loss on investment in affiliates, reversal (accrual) of tax penalty, gain on trouble debt restructuring, net foreign exchange gain and others.

Interest expense. Our interest expense arises from borrowings. In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, our interest expense from continuing operations was $8.1 million, $6.7 million and $3.9 million, respectively.

Interest income. Our interest income arises from cash deposited in banks. In the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, our interest income from continuing operations was $0.4 million, $0.3 million and $0.2 million, respectively.

Gain on extinguishment of convertible bonds. We recorded a gain on extinguishment of convertible bonds of $7.1 million from continuing operations in the year ended December 31, 2017, due to the extension of a convertible bond agreement that we entered into with Union Sky Holdings Group Limited (“Union Sky”).

Tax penalty. We recorded a $9.7 million expected tax penalty in the year ended December 31, 2017 for late filing of Federal and State income tax returns from continuing operations for the tax year ended December 31, 2016. On May 27, 2019 and February 20, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued notices which assessed penalties for Federal income tax for the tax years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 in the amount of $1. 2 million and $1.3 million plus an immaterial amount of interest, respectively. The state portion of tax penalty is re-estimated in the amount of $0.3 million. Thus, we reversed $6.9 million of tax penalty for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Gain on trouble debt restructuring. We recorded a gain of $1.9 million on trouble debt restructuring from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2018. We defaulted the first amendment agreement with Union Sky Holding Group Limited (“Union Sky”). On June 29, 2018, we entered into another amendment agreement with the Union Sky and Magical Glaze Limited (“MGL”) to further extend the payment term. A gain was recognized for the difference between the future undiscounted cash flow of the second amended convertible bond of $20.0 million and the carrying amount of the first amended convertible bond of $21.9 million as of June 29, 2018.

Loss on investment in affiliates. We recorded a loss on investment in affiliates of $2.2 million which mainly arose from further impairment on our investment in ENS in the year ended December 31, 2017.

Income Tax

The following table sets forth our loss before income taxes for continuing operations attributable to the relevant geographic locations for the periods indicated:

Cayman Islands

We are incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Under the current laws of the Cayman Islands, we are not subject to income or capital gains tax in the Cayman Islands. Payments of dividends and capital in respect of our Shares will not be subject to taxation in the Cayman Islands and no withholding will be required on the payment of a dividend or capital to any holder of our Shares, nor will gains derived from the disposal of our Shares be subject to Cayman Islands income or corporation tax. The Cayman Islands currently have no income, corporation or capital gains tax and no estate duty, inheritance tax or gift tax.

United States

We and our subsidiaries organized in the United States are subject to U.S. federal income tax at a rate of up to 35% for the year ended December 31, 2017.

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA” or the “Act”) (which is commonly referred to as “U.S. tax reform”). Among other provisions, the Act reduces the top U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, requires companies to pay a one-time transition tax on earnings of certain foreign subsidiaries that were previously tax deferred, changes the rules related to uses and limitations of net operating loss carryforwards created in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, and creates new taxes on certain foreign sourced earnings. The Company reflected the changes resulting from the Act in the financial statements for the period of enactment, the year ended December 31, 2017. The change in corporate rate resulted in a $22.8 million decrease in the Company’s gross deferred tax assets, with an offsetting decrease in valuation allowance of the same amount. The Company was not subject to a one-time repatriation tax as no aggregate foreign accumulated earnings and profits existed in the foreign subsidiaries as of December 31, 2018 and 2017. The Company will account for future tax liability arising from Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, if any, as a period cost. The Company has accounted for additional tax liability in 2018 arising from Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income of $0.9 million which accounted for as a period cost. In accordance with Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118, the Company determined that the measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities, as noted above, was accurate and no other adjustments relating to the Act were necessary. The Company has recognized no income on account of GILTI as no aggregate foreign earnings existed in the foreign subsidiaries for 2019.

Hong Kong

Our subsidiaries incorporated in Hong Kong were subject to the uniform tax rate of 8.25% for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively. They were exempted from the Hong Kong income tax on its foreign-derived income and there were no withholding taxes in Hong Kong on the remittance of dividends. No provision for Hong Kong tax has been made in our consolidated financial statements, as our Hong Kong subsidiary had not generated any assessable income for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

See “Item 10. Additional Information—E. Taxation” for more information.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements include the financial statements of our Company, our subsidiaries, and consolidated VIEs. All material inter-company transactions and balances have been eliminated upon consolidation. For consolidated subsidiaries where our ownership in the subsidiary is less than 100%, the equity interest not held by us is shown as noncontrolling interests. We account for investments over which it has significant influence but not a controlling financial interest using the equity method of accounting. We deconsolidate a subsidiary when we cease to have a controlling financial interest in the subsidiary. When control is lost, the parent-subsidiary relationship no longer exists and the parent derecognizes the assets and liabilities of the subsidiary.

Revenue Recognition

On January 1, 2018, we adopted Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) No. 606, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“ASC 606” or “Topic 606”) and applied the modified retrospective method to all contracts that were not completed as of January 1, 2018. Results for reporting periods beginning after January 1, 2018 are presented under Topic 606, while prior period amounts are not adjusted and continue to be reported in accordance with the Group’s historical accounting practices under ASC Topic 605 “Revenue Recognition”.

We have determined that the impact of the transition to the new standard is immaterial to our revenue recognition model. Accordingly, we have not made any adjustment to opening retained earnings.

Our accounting practices under ASC Topic 606 are as followings:

The Company generates revenue from sales of PV components, electricity revenue with power purchase agreements (“Electricity revenue with PPAs”), sales of PV project assets, bitcoin mining equipment sales and hosting service, sales of pre-development solar projects, revenue from bitcoin mining and sales of hays.

Sale of PV components. Revenue on sale of PV components is recognized at a point in time following the transfer of control of such products to the customer, which typically occurs upon shipment or acceptance of the customer depending on the terms of the underlying contracts.

Electricity revenue with PPAs. We sell energy generated by PV solar power systems under PPAs. For energy sold under PPAs, we recognize revenue each period based on the volume of energy delivered to the customer (i.e., the PPAs off-taker) and the price stated in the PPAs. We have determined that none of the PPAs contains a lease since (i) the purchaser does not have the rights to operate the PV solar power systems, (ii) the purchaser does not have the rights to control physical access to the PV solar power systems, and (iii) the price that the purchaser pays is at a fixed price per unit of output.

Sale of PV project asset. Our sales arrangements for PV projects do not contain any forms of continuing involvement that may affect the revenue or profit recognition of the transactions, nor any variable considerations for energy performance guarantees, minimum electricity end subscription commitments. The Company therefore determined its single performance obligation to the customer is the sale of a completed solar project. We recognize revenue for sales of solar projects at a point in time after the solar project has been grid connected and the customer obtains control of the solar project.

Bitcoin mining equipment sales and hosting service. Revenue on sale of bitcoin mining equipment is recognized at a point in time following the transfer of control of such products to the customer, which typically occurs upon delivery of the products to the hosting site or receipt place assigned by the customer, installation and setting up the products. Revenue for hosting service is recognized over time as services are performed and based on the output method related to the time incurred during the service period.

Sales of pre-development solar projects. For sales of pre-development solar projects in which we transfer 100% of the membership interest in solar projects to a customer, we recognize all of the revenue for the consideration received at a point in time when the membership interest was transferred to the customer, which typically occurs when we delivered the membership interest assignment agreement to the customer.

The contract arrangements may contain provisions that can either increase or decrease the transaction price. These variable amounts generally are resolved upon achievement of certain performance or upon occurrence of certain price reduction conditions. Variable consideration is estimated at each measurement date at its most likely amount to the extent that it is probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue recognized will not occur and true-ups are applied prospectively as such estimates change.

Changes in estimates for sales of pre-development solar projects occur for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to (i) EPC construction plan accelerations or delays, (ii) product cost forecast changes, (iii) change orders, or (iv) occurrence of purchase price reduction conditions. The cumulative effect of revisions to transaction prices are recorded in the period in which the revisions to estimates are identified and the amounts can be reasonably estimated.

Revenue from bitcoin mining. We entered into a digital asset mining pool to provide computing power to the mining pool. Providing computing power in crypto asset transaction verification services is an output of our ordinary activities. The provision of computing power is the only performance obligation in the contracts with mining pool. The transaction consideration we receive, if any, is noncash consideration, which we measure at fair value on the date received, which is not materially different than the fair value at contract inception. The consideration is all variable. Because it is not probable that a significant reversal of cumulative revenue will not occur, the consideration is constrained until we receive the consideration, at which time revenue is recognized. There is no significant financing component in these transactions.

Fair value of the digital asset award received is determined using the average U.S. dollar spot rate of the related digital currency at the time of receipt.

Sale of Alfalfa hay. Revenue on sale of alfalfa hay is recognized at a point in time following the transfer of control of such products to the customer, which typically occurs upon the acceptance of the products made by the customer.

Product Warranties

We offer the industry standard warranty up to 25 years for PV modules and industry standard warranty for five to ten years on inverter and balance of system components. Due to the warranty period, we bear the risk of extensive warranty claims long after products have been shipped and revenues have been recognized. We provide a limited warranty to the original purchasers of its solar modules, inverters and cables for trading business for one to five years, in relation to defects in materials and workmanship. For our cable, wire and mechanical assemblies business, historically the related warranty claims have not been material. For our solar PV business, the greatest warranty exposure is in the form of product replacement.

During the quarter ended September 30, 2007 and continuing through the fourth quarter of 2010, we installed own manufactured solar panels and accrued warranty based on our own historical data. Since 2011, due to the absence of historical material warranty claims and identical warranty terms, we have not recorded any additional warranty provision relating to solar energy systems sold. PV construction contracts entered into during the recent years included provisions under which we agreed to provide warranties to the customers. The warranty we offer to its customers is identical to the warranty offered to us by its suppliers, therefore, we pass on all potential warranty exposure and claims, if any, with respect systems sold by us to our suppliers.

Impairment of Long-lived Assets

Our long-lived assets include property, plant and equipment, project assets and other intangible assets with finite lives. We evaluate long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may not be recoverable. If circumstances require a long-lived asset or asset group be tested for possible impairment, we first compare undiscounted cash flows expected to be generated by that asset or asset group to its carrying amount. If the carrying amount of the long-lived asset or asset group is not recoverable on an undiscounted cash flow basis, an impairment is recognized to the extent that the carrying amount exceeds its fair value. Fair value is determined through various valuation techniques including discounted cash flow models, quoted market values and third-party independent appraisals, as considered necessary. Any impairment write-downs would be treated as permanent reductions in the carrying amounts of the assets and a charge to operations would be recognized.

Inventories

Inventories are carried at the lower of cost or net realizable value, determined by the weighted average cost method. Provisions are made for obsolete or slow-moving inventories based on management estimates. Inventories are written down based on the difference between the cost of inventories and the net realizable value based upon estimates about future demand from customers, specific customer requirements on certain projects and other factors. Inventory provision charges establish a new cost basis for inventory that subsequently cannot be marked up based on changes in underlying facts and circumstances.

Share-Based Compensation

Our share-based payment transactions with employees, such as restricted shares and share options, are measured based on the grant-date fair value of the equity instrument issued. The fair value of the award is recognized as compensation expense, net of estimated forfeitures, over the period during which an employee is required to provide service in exchange for the award, which is generally the vesting period.

Accounts Receivables and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

We grant open credit terms to credit-worthy customers. Accounts receivable are primarily related to our sales of pre-development solar project contracts and sales of PV components. For sales of pre-development solar projects, the payment is typically due in installments over the contract term, which are both before and after the performance by the Company. Payment for sales of PV components and electricity revenue with PPAs are typically due in full within 30 to 90 days of shipping of the products or the start of the contract term.

We maintain allowances for doubtful accounts. We regularly monitor and assess the risk of not collecting amounts owed by customers. This evaluation is based upon a variety of factors, including an analysis of amounts current and past due along with relevant history and facts particular to the customer. We do not have any off-balance-sheet credit exposure related to its customers. Contractually, we may charge interest for extended payment terms and require collateral.

Project Assets

We acquire or construct PV solar power systems (“solar system”) that are (i) held for development and sale or (ii) held for our own use to generate income or return from the use of the solar system. Solar systems are classified as either held for development and sale within “project assets” or as held for use within “property, plant and equipment” based on our intended use of solar systems. We determine the intended use of the solar systems upon acquisition or commencement of project construction.

Classification of the solar systems affects the accounting and presentation in the consolidated financial statements. Transactions related to the solar systems held for development and sale are classified as operating activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows and reported as sales and costs of goods sold in the consolidated statements of operations upon the sale of the project assets and fulfillment of the relevant recognition criteria. Incidental electricity income generated from the solar systems held for development and sale prior to the sale of the projects is recorded in other operating income in the consolidated statement of operations. The solar systems held for use are used by us in its operations to generate income or a return from the use of the assets. Income generated from the solar systems held for use are included in net sales in the consolidated statement of operations. The costs to construct solar system intended to be held for own use are capitalized and reported within property, plant and equipment on the consolidated balance sheets and are presented as cash outflows from investing activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows. The proceeds from disposal of solar system classified as held for own use are presented as cash inflows from investing activities within the consolidated statements of cash flows. A net gain or loss upon the disposal of solar system classified as held for own use is reported in other operating income or expense in the consolidated statement of operation.

Solar systems costs consist primarily of capitalizable costs for items such as permits and licenses, acquired land or land use rights, and work-in-process. Work-in-process includes materials and modules, construction, installation and labor, capitalized interests and other capitalizable costs incurred to construct the PV solar power systems.

The solar systems held for development and sale named as “project assets”, are reported as current assets on the consolidated balance sheets when upon completion of the construction of the solar systems, we initiate a plan to actively market the project assets for immediate sale in their present condition to potential third party buyers subject to terms that are usual and customary for sales of these types assets and it is probable that the project assets will be sold within one year. Otherwise, the project assets held for development and sale are reported as noncurrent assets. No depreciation expense is recognized while the project assets are under construction or classified as held for sale.

For solar systems held for development and sale, named as “project assets”, we consider a project commercially viable if it is anticipated to be sold for a profit once it is either fully developed or fully constructed. We also consider a partially developed or partially constructed project commercially viable if the anticipated selling price is higher than the carrying value of the related project assets plus the estimated cost to completion. We consider a number of factors, including changes in environmental, ecological, permitting, market pricing or regulatory conditions that affect the project. Such changes may cause the cost of the project to increase or the selling price of the project to decrease. We record an impairment loss of the project asset to the extent the carrying value exceed its estimated recoverable amount. The recoverable amount is estimated based on the anticipated sales proceeds reduced by estimated cost to complete such sales.

Income Taxes

We account for income taxes under the asset and liability method. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases and operating loss and tax credit carry forwards. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes the enactment date. A valuation allowance is recognized if it is more likely than not that some portion, or all, of a deferred tax asset will not be realized.

The Company recognizes in the consolidated financial statements the impact of a tax position, if that position is more likely than not of being sustained upon examination, based on the technical merits of the position. In evaluating whether a tax position has met the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold, management presumes that the position will be examined by the appropriate taxing authority that has full knowledge of all relevant information. In addition, a tax position that meets the more-likely-than-not recognition threshold is measured to determine the amount of benefit to be recognized in the financial statements. The tax position is measured at the largest amount of benefit that is greater than 50 percent likely of being realized upon settlement. Our tax liability associated with unrecognized tax benefits is adjusted periodically due to changing circumstances, such as the progress of the tax audits, case law developments and new or emerging legislation. Such adjustments are recognized entirely in the period in which they are identified. We record interest and penalties related to an uncertain tax position, if and when required, as part of income tax expense in the consolidated statements of operations. No reserve for uncertainty tax position was recorded by us for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017. We do not expect that the assessment regarding unrecognized tax positions will materially change over the next 12 months. The Company is not currently under examination by an income tax authority, nor has been notified that an examination is contemplated.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Topic 606, which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in Topic 605. The Group adopted Topic 606 as of January 1, 2018 using the modified retrospective transition method applied to those contracts which were not completed as of January 1, 2018.

In February 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-12, Leases (ASC Topic 842), which amends the leases requirements in ASC Topic 840, Leases. The Group adopted ASC Topic 842 using the modified retrospective transition method effective January 1, 2019. There was no cumulative effect of initially applying ASC Topic 842 that required an adjustment to the opening retained earnings on the adoption date nor revision of the balances in comparative periods.

In November 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-18, Statement of Cash Flows (Topic 230): “Restricted Cash” (“ASU 2016-18”). ASU 2016-18 requires that a statement of cash flows explain the change during the period in the total of cash, cash equivalents, and amounts generally described as restricted cash or restricted cash equivalents. This update is effective in fiscal years, including interim periods, beginning after December 15, 2017 and early adoption is permitted. The adoption of this guidance will result in the inclusion of the restricted cash balances within the overall cash balance and removal of the changes in restricted cash activity, as a result, the Company no longer presents transfers between cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash in the statement of cash flows. Furthermore, an additional reconciliation will be required to reconcile cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash reported within the Consolidated Balance Sheets to sum to the total shown in the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. The Group has already disclosed the restricted cash separately on its Consolidated Balance Sheets. Beginning January 1, 2018, the Group has adopted and included the restricted cash balances on the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and reconciliation of cash, cash equivalent, and restricted cash within its Consolidated Statements of Balance Sheet and Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows. This guidance has been applied retrospectively to the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the year ended December 31, 2017, which required the Company to recast each prior reporting period presented.

In January 2017, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2017-01, “Business Combination (Topic 805): Clarifying the Definition of a Business”. The Company adopted ASU 2017-01 on January 1, 2018 and applied the new definition of a business prospectively for acquisitions made subsequent to December 31, 2017. Upon the adoption of ASU 2017-01, a new screen test is introduced to evaluate whether a transaction should be accounted for as an acquisition and/or disposal of a business versus assets. In order for a purchase to be considered an acquisition of a business, and receive business combination accounting treatment, the set of transferred assets and activities must include, at a minimum, an input and a substantive process that together significantly contribute to the ability to create outputs. If substantially all of the fair value of the gross assets acquired is concentrated in a single identifiable asset or a group of similar identifiable assets, then the set of transferred assets and activities is not a business. The adoption of this standard requires future purchases to be evaluated under the new framework.

Accounting Pronouncements Issued But Not Yet Adopted

In August 2018, the FASB issued ASU No. 2018-13, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820)-Disclosure Framework-Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement. ASU 2018-13 removes the amounts and reasons for transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy and the valuation processes for Level 3 fair value measurements; modifies certain disclosure requirements in Topic 820; and require additional disclosures such as the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 measurements etc. ASU No. 2018-13 is effective for the Company beginning in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020. We do not expect this guidance will have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements.

On December 18, 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-12, Income taxes (Topic 740), Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes. This guidance amends ASC Topic 740 and addresses several aspects including 1) evaluation of step-up tax basis of goodwill when there is not a business combination, 2) policy election to not allocate consolidated taxes on a separate entity basis to entities not subject to income tax, 3) accounting for tax law changes or rates during interim periods, 4) ownership changes from equity method investment to subsidiary or vice versa, 5) elimination of exception to intraperiod allocation when there is gain in discontinued operations and a loss from continuing operations, 6) treatment of franchise taxes that are partially based on income. The guidance is effective for calendar year-end public entities on January 1, 2021 and other entities on January 1, 2022. We are evaluating the impact of this guidance on its consolidated financial statements.

We do not believe other recently issued but not yet effective accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the consolidated financial position, statements of operations and cash flows.

Recent Acquisition Activities

When making solar project acquisitions, we focus on attractive targets based on our assessment of the rate of return, taking into consideration a target project’s irradiation hours, applicable FIT rate, key technical components used as well as our cost of financing for the acquisition. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—Our Global Project Development Business—Acquisition of Solar Projects” for more information on the criteria we apply when making project acquisitions.

When we pursue a target engaged in a solar business, such as a distribution business or a rooftop EPC business, we primarily select targets with higher gross profit margins, or in the case of a target engaged in a line of business complementary to our existing operations, with high potentials for us to realize synergies.

The following summary outlines the major acquisitions we completed, or for which have entered into definitive agreements since 2017:

Solar Projects

In March 2017, our wholly owned subsidiary, SPI Solar Japan GK entered into a definitive agreement to sell all of its interest in the land and project development rights in its two solar PV projects with total capacity of 4.4 MW in Shibayama city, Chiba. SPI Japan will also provide engineering, procurement and construction service to complete the projects. The solar plants are located approximately 50 kilometres east of Tokyo in Chiba and each with capacity of 2.2 MW and with an estimated total capacity of 5,200,000 kWh annually.

In May 2017, we entered into an agreement to sell all of our interest in Todderstaffe Solar Limited, one of the solar PV system in UK, to Capital Stage AG. The Todderstaffe project has a capacity of 4.4MW.

In September 2017, we entered into a framework share purchase agreement to acquire 100% equity interests of three Greek companies, namely THERMI SUN S.A, HELIOHRISI S.A., and HELIOSTIXIO S.A., from THERMI TANEO Venture Capital Fund (“TTVCF”), for a total consideration of EUR €12.88 million, subject to certain adjustments. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. These three companies own a total of four PV plants with 7.4MWp PV installations in northern Greece. The closing of the transaction will take place in three separate stages (one for each company under acquisition). The acquisition of HELIOSTIXIO S.A. was closed in December 2017. The Company completed the second-stage acquisition of 100% of the equity interest of HELIOHRISI S.A., which owns 1.988 MW of photovoltaic projects in Greece on March 20, 2019. The Company has completed its last of the three acquisitions of 100% of the equity interest of THERMI SUN S.A., which owns 4.4 Megawatts ("MW") of photovoltaic (“PV”) projects in Greece in November 2019. With 7.4MWp PV installations added to SPI Energy’s existing PV portfolio in Greece, the Company becomes one of the significant PV owners in Greece.

By the year end of December 31, 2018, our wholly owned subsidiary, SPI Solar Inc., sold eight solar projects in the USA (9.653 MW) to third parties.

In December 2018, SPI Energy Co., Ltd divested our solar projects in China.

In July 2019, the Company entered into a framework agreement to acquire up to eight solar PV projects, totaling 21MW in the State of Oregon (the “Oregon Portfolio”). On August 26, 2019, the Company completed the closing of Manchester and Waterford solar projects with a total of approximately 5.4MW. On September 10, 2019, the Company completed the closing on the Belvedere project with approximately 3.56MW of clean energy for the local community. On September 24, 2019, the Company completed the closing of the Dover and Clayfield solar projects with a total of approximately 5.45MW. On April 22, 2020, the Company completed the acquisition of the Cork project with a total of approximately 1.89MW. The Company has now closed 6 of the 8 projects within the Oregon Portfolio.

In October, 2019, the Company completed the closing on the sale of Sun Roof II and Sun Roof V totaling 2.83MW to Theia Investments (Italy) S.r.l (“Theia”). Theia paid approximately EUR 4.3 million to complete the transaction.

In March, 2020, the Company completed the closing of the sale of its Sun Roof I assets, a 479 kWp rooftop solar project in Italy. Proceeds from the sale were approximately EUR 1.1 million before transaction fees. After the sale of Sun Roof II, Sun Roof V and Sun Roof I, the Company currently owns only 1 PV asset with a capacity of 0.993 MW in Italy.

We have funded our acquisitions primarily from cash generated from our financing activities and from credit facilities. Going forward we expect to fund our future acquisitions with cash generated from our operations, as well as equity and debt financing.

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth a summary, for the periods indicated, of our consolidated results of operations from our continuing operations and each item expressed as a percentage of our total net revenues. Our historical results presented below are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any future period.

Comparison of the year ended December 31, 2019 to the year ended December 31, 2018

Net sales —Net sales were $125.6 million and $97.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, representing a decrease of $27.7 million or 22%. The decrease in net sales for the year ended December 31, 2019 over the comparative period was primarily due to the decrease of sales of PV solar components by $12.6 million and sales of pre-development project by $18.6 million respectively, which was partially offset by the increase of bitcoin and hay sales.

Cost of goods sold —Cost of goods sold was $114.5 million (91.2% of net sales) and $90.7 million (92.7% of net sales) for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, representing a decrease of $23.8 million or 21%. The decrease in cost of goods sold was consistent with the decrease of sales.

Gross profit —Our gross profit decreased from $11.1 million in the year ended December 31, 2018 to $7.2 million in the year ended December 31, 2019. Gross margins were 8.8% and 7.3% for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively. The decrease in gross margin was primarily due to the reversal of sales of pre-development projects amounting to $ 2.8 million.

General and administrative expenses —General and administrative expenses were $12.2 million (9.8% of net sales) and $15.2 million (15.5% of net sales) for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, representing an increase of $2.9 million, or 24%. The increase in our general and administrative expenses was mainly due to the increase of salary and welfare and professional service fee, which was partially offset by share-based compensation gain.

Sales, marketing and customer service expenses —Sales, marketing and customer service expenses were $2.3 million (1.8% of net sales) and $2.4 million (2.4% of net sales) for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, representing an increase of $0.1 million, or 5%. Sales, marketing and customer service expenses kept stable during the two years.

Provision (reverse) for doubtful accounts, notes and other receivables —In 2018, we reversed doubtful accounts provision of $0.5 million. In 2019, we accrued doubtful accounts provision of $4.1 million.

Impairment charges —No impairment charge was recorded for the year ended December 31, 2018 and we accrued $4.7 million impairment loss for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase was due to decrease in the market value of mining equipment and impairment in PV stations

Interest expense —Interest expense was $6.7 million (5.3% of net sales) and $3.9 million (4.0% of net sales) for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively, representing a decrease of $2.8 million, or 41%. The decrease in interest expense was due to the decrease of convertible bond interest.

Interest income —Interest income was $0.3 million (0.3% of net sales) and $0.2 million (0.2% of net sales) for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Gain on trouble debt restructuring—We recorded a gain of $1.9 million on troubled debt restructuring for the year ended December 31, 2018. We defaulted the first amendment agreement with Union Sky in 2018. On June 29, 2018, we entered into another amendment agreement with the Union Sky and Magical Glaze Limited (“MGL”), a company affiliated with Union Sky, to further extend the payment term. A gain is recognized for the difference between the future undiscounted cash flow of the second amended convertible bond of $20.0 million and the carrying amount of the first amended convertible bond of $21.9 million as of June 29, 2018.

Other gains or expenses—We generated other gain of $1.6 million and $1.0 million in the year ended December 31, 2018 and 2019.

Income tax expense —We had a provision for income taxes of $0.3 million (0.2% of net sales) and $0.1 million (0.1% of net sales) for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Net loss —For the foregoing reasons, we incurred a net loss of $15.1 million (15.5% of net sales) for the year ended December 31, 2019, representing an increase of loss compared to a net loss of $6.1 million (4.9% of net sales) from our continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2018.

A comparison for operating results of the year ended December 31, 2018 to the year ended December 31, 2017 has been omitted from this annual report. For the details about the comparison, please see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects – A. Operating Results – Results of Operations.” Included in the Company’s annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2018 filed with the SEC on April 30, 2019.

Liquidity

A summary of the sources and uses of cash and cash equivalents is as follows:

As of December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, we had $2.3 million, $4.6 million and $3.0 million, respectively, in cash and cash equivalents, and restricted cash.

Operating Activities

Net cash used in operating activities from continuing operations was $2.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, the decrease in cash was primarily as a result of (i) net loss of $15.1 million, (ii) change in tax penalty of $6.9 million, and (iii) change in advance from customers of $8.4 million, and (iv) change in inventories of $2.0 million; the decrease was partially offset by (i) change in accounts payable of $7.8 million,(ii) Provision for prepaid and other current assets of $4.1 million, (iii) change in notes receivable of $4.8 million, (iv) change in project assets of $3.3 million, and (v) change in accounts receivable of $3.1 million.

Net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations was $7.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, the increase in cash was primarily as a result of (i) change in project assets of $17.8 million, and (ii) change in inventories of $2.9 million, (iii) change in accounts payable of $3.4 million, (iv) non cash share-based compensation of $2.7 million, and (v) change in accrued liabilities and other liabilities of $4.0 million, (vi) depreciation of $1.2 million, (vii) amortization of debt discount of convertible bonds of $1.9 million; the increase was partially offset by (i) net loss of $12.3 million,(ii) change in accounts receivable of $13.9 million, (iii) change in advance from customers of $5.1 million, and (iv) gain on troubled debt restructuring of $1.9 million.

Investing Activities

Net cash used in investing activities from continuing operations was $7.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily as a result of the acquisition of PV station in Greece of $8.3 million and acquisitions of property, plant and equipment of $4.8 million, partially offset by proceeds from sale of cryptocurrencies of $3.6 million and proceeds from disposal of affiliated entities of $4.5 million.

Net cash used in investing activities from continuing operations was $3.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, primarily as a result of decrease of cash due to disposition of SPI China.

Financing Activities

Net cash generated from financing activities from continuing operations was $9.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, the increase in cash was primarily the result of proceeds from issuance of common stocks of $7.7 million and proceeds from issuance of convertible bond of $1.3 million.

Net cash used in financing activities from continuing operations was $1.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2018, the decrease in cash primarily consisted of (i) repayment of line of credit and loans payable of $67.8 million; the decrease was partially offset by (i) proceeds from line of credit and loans payable of $66.2 million.

Capital Resources and Material Known Facts on Liquidity

We have suffered recurring losses from operations. We have incurred a net loss of $15.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. As of December 31, 2019, we had an accumulated deficit of $585.4 million and working capital deficit of $113.5 million. As of December 31, 2019, $55.9 million of convertible bonds was due within one year. These raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern.

We have revised the assumptions underlying our existing operating plans and recognized the fact that additional actions were needed to reposition our operations to minimize our cash outflows. Therefore, we undertook a number of initiatives in order to conserve or generate cash on an incremental basis in 2018 and 2019. These initiatives included:

However, we cannot assure you that this liquidity plan will be successful executed. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business and Industry—. Historically, we have incurred net losses, experienced net cash outflows from operating activities and recorded working capital deficit. If we do not effectively manage our cash and other liquid financial assets and execute our liquidity plan, we may not be able to continue as a going concern.”

Capital Expenditures

We incurred capital expenditures of $0.3 million, $0.1 million and $1.5 million in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. Capital commitments amounted to approximately $5.1 million as of December 31, 2019. These capital commitments will be used primarily for the construction of our solar projects. We expect to finance construction of these projects using cash from our operations and private placements, bank borrowings as well as other third-party financing options.

Research and development, patents and licenses, etc.

We have discontinued our manufacturing business and liquidated our research and development function.

Trend information

Other than as disclosed elsewhere in this annual report, we are not aware of any trends, uncertainties, demands, commitments or events for 2019 that are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our net revenues, income, profitability, liquidity or capital resources, or that would cause reported consolidated financial information not necessarily to be indicative of future operating results or financial conditions.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have not entered into any financial guarantees or other commitments to guarantee the payment obligations of any third parties. We have not entered into any derivative contracts that are indexed to our own shares and classified as shareholder’s equity, or that are not reflected in our consolidated financial statements. We do not have any retained or contingent interest in assets transferred to an unconsolidated entity that serves as credit, liquidity or market risk support to such entity. We do not have any variable interest in any unconsolidated entity that provides financing, liquidity, market risk or credit support to us or engages in leasing, hedging or research and development services with us.

Tabular Disclosure of Contractual Obligations

The following table sets forth our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2019:

ITEM 6.                    DIRECTORS, SENIOR MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEES

The following table sets forth the names and ages of our current board of directors (the “Board”) and our named executive officers and the principal offices and positions held by each person. Our executive officers are appointed by the Board. Our directors serve until the earlier to occur of the appointment of his or her successor at the next meeting of shareholders, death, resignation or removal by the Board. There are no family relationships among our directors and our named executive officers.

Set forth below is a brief biography of each director, named executive officer and significant employee that contains information regarding the individual’s service as a director, named executive officer or significant employee including business experience for the past five years. In addition, information for directors includes directorships held during the past five years, information concerning certain legal or administrative proceedings, if applicable, and the experiences, qualifications, attributes or skills that caused the Board to determine that the individual should serve as a director for us.

Mr. Xiaofeng Peng has served as a director and the executive chairman of our Board since January 10, 2011 and as our chief executive officer since March 25, 2016. Mr. Peng was appointed chairman of the Board pursuant to the Stock Purchase Agreement entered into between us and LDK on January 5, 2011. Mr. Peng founded LDK in July 2005 and is its chairman of the board and chief executive officer. Prior to founding LDK, Mr. Peng founded Suzhou Liouxin Co., Ltd., or Suzhou Liouxin, in March 1997 and was its chief executive officer until February 2006. Suzhou Liouxin is a leading manufacturer of personal protective equipment in Asia. Mr. Peng graduated from Jiangxi Foreign Trade School with a diploma in international business in 1993 and from Beijing University Guanghua School of Management with an executive MBA degree in 2002.

Dr. Maurice Wai-fung Ngai has served as our director since May 9, 2016. Dr. Ngai is a member of the Working Group on Professional Services under the Economic Development Commission of HKSAR, a director of Hong Kong Coalition of Professional Services, the President of the Hong Kong Institute of Chartered Secretaries (2015), a General Committee member of The Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies, a member of Qualification and Examination Board of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Adjunct Professor of Law of Hong Kong Shue Yan University. Dr. Ngai obtained a Doctoral Degree in Finance at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, a Master’s Degree in Corporate Finance from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Andrews University of Michigan and a Bachelor’s Degree in Laws at University of Wolverhampton. He is in a selected talent pool of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration of the State Council (SASAC) and is serving as an independent non-executive director of several reputable listed companies.

Mr. HoongKhoeng Cheong has served as our director since September 2017, as and our chief operating officer since May 2014. Mr. Cheong has more than 20 years of engineering and operation experience in the solar and electronics industries. He served in various management positions in LDK from 2011 to 2014 and he was appointed as the chairman of the Management Board and chief executive officer of Sunways AG, a publicly-listed company in Germany. He previously served as our general manager from 2007 to 2011 and was responsible for PV system design and development as well as the manufacturing of key components for PV modules and racking systems before joining LDK. Prior to joining the solar industry in 2007, Mr. Cheong spent 16 years in the electronics industry responsible for engineering development and manufacturing of liquid crystal display products and he served as the Vice President of Engineering of an affiliate of Flextronics International Ltd. Mr. Cheong holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Louisiana and obtained his Master of Science in computer integrated manufacturing from Nanyang Technology University, Singapore in 1997.

Ms. Lu Qing has served as our director since May 2017. She currently serves as the chief operating officer of WisePublic Asset Management Limited, where she manages daily operations, and acts as the special consultant to Peking Certified Public Accountants. Ms. Lu Qing has qualified experience in the finance, accounting, tax and legal fields. She served the head of internal audit of China Regenerative Medicine International Limited (8158 HK) from January 2013 to October 2015. Ms. Lu Qing also served as financial controller of Mainland China at Sing Tao News Corporation Limited (1105 HK) from May 2005 to May 2008. From February 1992 to March 2002, Ms. Lu Qing served as one of the major business partners and vice general manager at Peking Certified Public Accountants. Ms. Lu Qing received bachelor’s degree in economics, major in accounting from Central University of Finance and Economics in June 1993, and a master’s degree in law from Peking University in January 2001. Ms. Lu Qing is also a Certified Tax Agents, Certified Public Valuer, and Certified Public Account in China.

Mr. Jing Zhang has served as our director since March 30, 2020. Mr. Zhang has served as a director of Hong Kong Dongying Financial Group since 2012, where he manages the group’s private equity operations. He has also been an independent director of New City Construction Development Group Co., Ltd. and China International Capital Corporation since 2012. He served as a deputy general manager of China Yituo Group Co., Ltd. and a director and chief financial officer of First Tractor Co., Ltd. from 1997 to 2007. Mr. Zhang Jing received the Master degree in Management Engineering from Jiangsu University.

For the year ended December 31, 2019, the aggregate cash compensation and benefits that we paid to our directors and executive officers was approximately $3,129,680. No pension, retirement or similar benefits have been set aside or have accrued by us for our executive officers of directors.

Stock Incentive Plans

2006 Equity Incentive Plan

On November 15, 2006, SPI’s board of directors adopted the 2006 Equity Incentive Plan, reserving nine percent (9%) of the outstanding shares of SPI’s common stock for the plan, and this plan was approved by SPI’s shareholders on February 7, 2007. Upon completion of the Redomicle Merger, our Company assumed SPI’s existing obligations under the 2006 Equity Incentive Plan and an equal number of the Company’s ordinary shares, rather than the common stock of SPI, will be issued upon the exercise of the awards under this plan.

The following are principal terms under our 2006 Equity Incentive Plan:

Administration. The administrator is a committee consisting of two or more independent members of the Board appointed by the Board to administer this plan, or if there is no such committee, the Board itself.

Awards. We may grant incentive and non-qualified share options, restricted shares, unrestricted shares and share appreciation rights under this plan.

Award Agreements. Each award granted under this plan will be evidenced by a signed written award agreement between the Company and the award recipient.

Exercise Price. The exercise price of any option or share appreciation right will be determined by the administrator in accordance with this plan.

Terms of Awards. The term of options granted under this plan may not exceed ten years (or five years, in the case of an incentive share option granted to an optionee who owns more than ten percent of the total combined voting power of all classes of share of the Company). The term of a share appreciation right will be set forth in the award agreement as determined by the administrator.

Vesting Schedule. The administrator may determine in its discretion whether any award will be subject to vesting and the terms and conditions of any such vesting. The award agreement will contain any such vesting schedule.

Transfer Restrictions. No options, restricted shares awards (prior to vesting, subject to the plan and the award agreement) or share appreciation rights may be transferred other than by will or by the laws of descent or distribution, except that non-qualified options and share appreciation rights may be transferred to an award recipient’s former spouse pursuant to a property settlement made part of an agreement or court order incident to the divorce. During the lifetime of an award recipient, only the award recipient, his guardian or legal representative may exercise an option (other than an incentive share option) pursuant to a domestic relations order in accordance with the plan. During the lifetime of an award recipient, only the award recipient may exercise the restricted share awards or share appreciation rights.

Termination of Employment or Service. In the event that an award recipient terminates employment with us or ceases to provide services to us, an award may be exercised following the termination of employment or services as provided in the plan and the award agreement.

Termination and Amendment of the Plan. This plan was terminated automatically in 2016 pursuant to its terms. Our Board has the authority to amend, suspend or terminate the plan, subject to shareholder approval with respect to certain amendments. No award will be granted after termination of this plan but all awards granted prior to termination will remain in effect in accordance with their terms.

2015 Equity Incentive Plan

On May 8, 2015, our board of directors adopted our 2015 Equity Incentive Plan. Our shareholders approved this plan on the same date. This plan went effective upon completion of the Redomicile Merger. The total number of Shares that may be issued under this plan is nine percent (9%) of the number of outstanding and issued ordinary shares of the Company. Awards may, in the discretion of the administrator, be made under this plan in assumption of, or in substitution for, outstanding awards previously granted by the Company or its affiliates or a company acquired by the Company or with which the Company combines. The number of shares underlying such substitute awards shall be counted against the aggregate number of shares available for awards under the plan.

The following are principal terms under our 2015 Equity Incentive Plan:

Administration. This plan is administered by the compensation committee of our Board, and the compensation committee may delegate its duties and powers in whole or in part to any subcommittee of it.

Awards. We may grant non-qualified or incentive share options, share appreciation rights and other share-based awards such as restricted shares under this plan.

Option / Exercise Price. The purchase price per share of any option and the exercise price of any share appreciation right will be determined by the administrator in accordance with the plan.

Terms of Awards. The term of options granted under this plan may not exceed ten years from the date of grant. Vesting Conditions. The administrator has full power and authority to accelerate or waive any vesting conditions.

Transfer Restrictions. Unless otherwise determined by the administrator and subject to terms and conditions of the plan, an award may not be transferred other than by will or by the laws of descent and distribution.

Adjustments upon Certain Events. In the event of any change in the outstanding shares by reason of certain corporate transactions, the administrator will in its sole discretion make such substitution or adjustment (if any) as to the number or kind of securities issued or reserved for issuance pursuant to the plan or outstanding awards, the maximum numbers of awards that may be granted during a calendar year to any award recipient, the option or exercise price of any awards, or other affected terms of the awards. In the event of a change of control, the administrator may (1) determine any outstanding awards to be automatically exercisable or otherwise vested or no longer subject to lapse restrictions; or (2) cancel these awards in accordance with the plan, provide for issuance of substitute awards that substantially preserve the otherwise applicable terms of these awards, or provide that relevant options shall be exercisable within a period of at least 15 days prior to the change of control and shall terminate upon occurrence of the change of control.

Termination and Amendment of Plan. Unless terminated earlier, this plan shall terminate automatically in 2025. Our Board may amend, alter or discontinue this plan in accordance with terms and conditions of the plan. No award may be granted under the plan after termination date, but awards granted prior to termination will remain in effect.

Option Awards

The following table summarizes the outstanding options that we granted to our directors and executive officers and to other individuals as a group under both of our 2006 Equity Incentive Plan and our 2015 Equity Incentive Plan as of the date of this annual report. We have not granted any outstanding options other than to the individuals named below.

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Board of Directors

Our board of directors currently consists of five directors, three of whom satisfy the “independence” requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act and Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ Rules. The law of our home country, which is the Cayman Islands, does not require a majority of the board of directors of our Company to be composed of independent directors, nor does the Cayman Islands law require that of a compensation committee or a nominating committee. We intend to follow our home country practice with regard to composition of the board of directors. A director is not required to hold any shares in the Company by way of qualification. A director who is in any way, whether directly or indirectly, interested in a contract or transaction or proposed contract or transaction with our company must declare the nature of his interest at a meeting of the directors. Subject to the NASDAQ Rules and disqualification by the chairman of the relevant board meeting, a director may vote in respect of any contract or transaction or proposed contract or transaction notwithstanding that he or she may be interested therein and if he or she does so his or her vote shall be counted and he or she may be counted in the quorum at the relevant board meeting at which such contract or transaction or proposed contract or transaction is considered. Our board of directors may exercise all of the powers of our Company to borrow money, to mortgage or charge our undertakings, property and uncalled capital, and to issue debentures or other securities whenever money is borrowed or pledged as security for any debt, liability or obligation of our Company or of any third party.

Committees of the Board of Directors

We have an audit committee, a compensation committee and a nominating and corporate governance committee under the board of directors. We have adopted a charter for each of the three committees. Each committee’s members and functions are described below.

Audit Committee

Our audit committee consists of Maurice Ngai, Qing Lu and Jing Zhang, and is chaired by Maurice Ngai. All of the members of our audit committee satisfy the “independence” requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act and Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ Rules. The audit committee assists the Board’s oversight of (1) the quality and integrity of our financial statements and related disclosure, (2) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) the independent auditor’s qualifications and independence, (4) the performance of our internal audit function and independent auditors and (5) related-party transactions. The audit committee is responsible for, among other things:

Compensation Committee

Our compensation committee consists of Qing Lu, Maurice Ngai and Jing Zhang, and is chaired by Qing Lu. Maurice Ngai, Qing Lu and Jing Zhang satisfy the “independence” requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act and Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ Rules. The compensation committee has overall responsibility for evaluating and recommending to the Board compensation of our directors and executive officers and our equity-based and incentive compensation plans, policies and programs. The compensation committee is responsible for, among other things:

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

Our nominating and corporate governance committee consists of Jing Zhang, Maurice Ngai, and Qing Lu, and is chaired by Jing Zhang. Jing Zhang, Maurice Ngai and Qing Lu satisfy the “independence” requirements of Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act and Rule 5605 of the NASDAQ Rules. The nominating and corporate governance committee assists the board of directors in selecting individuals qualified to become our directors and in determining the composition of the Board and its committees. The nominating and corporate governance committee is responsible for, among other things:

Duties of Directors

Under Cayman Islands law, our directors owe to us fiduciary duties, including a duty of loyalty, a duty to act honestly and a duty to act in what they consider in good faith to be in our best interests. Our directors also have a duty to exercise the skill they actually possess and such care and diligence that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances. In fulfilling their duty of care to us, our directors must ensure compliance with our memorandum and articles of association, as amended and restated from time to time. Our Company has the right to seek damages if a duty owed by our directors is breached.

Terms of Directors and Executive Officers

The members of the Board serve until their successors are duly elected and have qualified. Our officers are appointed by and serve at the discretion of the board of directors. A director will cease to be a director if, among other things, the director (i) becomes bankrupt or makes any arrangement or composition with his creditors; (ii) dies or is found by our company to be or becomes of unsound mind; (iii) resigns his office by written notice to the Company; (iv) the board resolves that his office be vacated; or (v) is removed from office pursuant to any other provision of our memorandum and articles of association.

Employment Agreements

We have entered into employment agreements with each of our executive officers. These employment agreements became effective on the signing date and will remain effective through 2020. We may terminate an executive officer’s employment for cause for certain acts of the officer, including, but not limited to, conviction of a felony, any act involving moral turpitude, or a misdemeanor where imprisonment is imposed; commission of any act of theft, fraud, dishonesty, or falsification of any employment or the Company’s records; improper disclosure of the Company’s confidential or proprietary information; any action that has a detrimental effect on the Company’s reputation or business; or failure to perform agreed duties. We may also terminate an executive officer’s employment without cause. Each of us or the relevant executive officer may terminate the employment by giving advance written notice. We may renew the employment agreements with our executive officers.

As of December 31, 2017, 2018 and 2019, we had 63, 49 and 57 employees, respectively. The employees are based in the U.S., the U.K., Italy, Greece, Hong Kong, Australia, and Japan. The following table sets forth the number of our employees for each of our major functions as of December 31, 2019:

None of our employees are represented by a labor union nor are we organized under a collective bargaining agreement. We have never experienced a work stoppage and believe that our relations with our employees are good.

As required by regulations in China, we participated in various employee social security plans that are organized by municipal and provincial governments, including pension, unemployment insurance, childbirth insurance, work-related injury insurance, medical insurance and housing insurance. We were also required under PRC law to make contributions to employee benefit plans at specified percentages of the salaries, bonuses and certain allowances of our employees, up to a maximum amount specified by the local government from time to time. Since we divested our Chinese operation in December 2018, we are no longer subject to these laws.

The following tables set forth information with respect to the beneficial ownership of our shares as of the date of the report.

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