Item 1A. Ri sk Factors

You should carefully consider the following risk factors. If any of the events contemplated by the following discussion of risks should occur, our business, results of operations, financial condition, growth prospects and cash flows could suffer significantly. Additional risks that we currently do not know about or that we currently believe to be immaterial may also impair our business. Certain statements below are forward-looking statements. See “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.  

Risks Related to Our Wind Blade Business

A significant portion of our business is derived from a small number of customers, and two wind blade customers in particular, therefore any loss of or reduction in purchase orders, failure of these customers to fulfill their obligations or our failure to secure long-term supply agreement renewals from these customers could materially harm our business.

Substantially all of our revenues are derived from four wind blade customers. Two customers, GE Wind and Vestas, accounted for 31.7% and 32.0%, respectively, of our total net sales for the year ended December 31, 2018, 44.6% and 27.9%, respectively, of our total net sales for the year ended December 31, 2017, and 48.4% and 22.2%, respectively, of our total net sales for the year ended December 31, 2016. In addition, two customers, Nordex and Siemens Gamesa accounted for 19.0% and 11.2%, respectively, of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2018, 16.0% and 9.7%, respectively, of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2017, and 18.0% and 10.2%, respectively, of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2016. Accordingly, we are substantially dependent on continued business from our current wind blade customers, and GE Wind and Vestas in particular. If one or more of our wind blade customers were to reduce or delay wind blade orders, file for bankruptcy or become insolvent, fail to pay amounts due or satisfactorily perform their respective contractual obligations with us or otherwise terminate or fail to renew their long-term supply agreements with us, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed.

Defects in materials and workmanship or wind blade failures could harm our reputation, expose us to product warranty or other liability claims, decrease demand for wind blades we manufacture, or materially harm existing or prospective customer relationships.

Defects in the wind blades we manufacture, whether caused by a design, engineering, materials, manufacturing or component failure or deficiencies in our manufacturing processes, are unpredictable and an inherent risk in manufacturing technically advanced products. Under our supply agreements, we warranty the materials and workmanship of the wind blades while our customers are responsible for the fitness of use and design of the wind blades. We have, in the past, experienced wind blade testing failures and defects at some of our facilities during the startup manufacturing phase of new products, and we may experience failures or defects in the future. We have also experienced wind blade failures in the field. Any such customer qualification and wind blade testing failures or other product defects in the future could materially harm our existing and prospective customer relationships. Specifically, negative publicity about the quality of the wind blades we manufacture or defects in the wind blades supplied to our customers could result in a reduction in wind blade orders, increased warranty claims, product liability claims and other damages or termination of our long-term supply agreements or business relationships with current or new customers. In addition, we have recently started wind blade production at a new facility in Mexico and plan to start wind blade production at a new facility in Yangzhou, China in the first quarter of 2019 and at a new facility near Chennai, India in the first half of 2020 which may expose us to greater risk of warranty claims as these facilities ramp up to serial production levels.

We may determine that resolving potential warranty claims through a negotiated settlement may be in the best interest of the business and long-term customer relationships. Wind blades may also fail due to lightning strikes or other extreme weather, which could also result in negative publicity regarding our wind blades and wind energy in general. In addition, product defects may require costly repairs or replacement components, a change in our manufacturing processes or recall of previously manufactured wind blades, which could result in significant expense and materially harm our existing or prospective customer relationships. Further, defects or product liability claims, with or without merit, may result in negative publicity that could harm our future sales and our reputation in the industry. Any of the foregoing could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

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We have experienced, and could in the future experience, quality or operational issues in connection with plant construction or expansion, wind blade model transitions and wind blade manufacturing, which could result in losses and cause delays in our ability to complete our projects and may therefore materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We dedicate most of the capacity of our current wind blade manufacturing facilities to existing customers and, as a result, we may need to build additional manufacturing capacity or facilities to serve the needs of new customers or expanded needs of existing customers. Since the third quarter of 2016, we have commenced operations at three new manufacturing facilities in Mexico, one in Turkey and one in Iowa. In March 2018, we signed a lease for the construction of a new manufacturing facility in the Yangzhou Economic & Technical Development Zone in Yangzhou, China and we expect to commence operations at this facility in the first quarter of 2019. Also, in February 2019, we signed a lease for a new manufacturing facility that will be built near Chennai, India and we expect to commence operations at this facility in the first half of 2020. The construction of new plants and the expansion of existing plants involves significant time, cost and other risks. We expect our plants to generate losses in their first 12 to 24 months of operations related to production startup costs. Additionally, numerous factors can contribute, and have in the past contributed, to delays or difficulties in the startup of, or the adoption of our manufacturing lines to produce larger wind blade models, which we refer to as model transitions, in our manufacturing facilities. These factors include permitting, construction or renovation delays, the engineering and fabrication of specialized equipment, the modification of our general production know-how and customer-specific manufacturing processes to address the specific wind blades to be tested and built, changing and evolving customer specifications and expectations and the hiring and training of plant personnel. If our production or the delivery by any third-party suppliers of any custom equipment is delayed, the construction or renovation of the facility, or the addition of a production line would be delayed. Any delays or difficulties in plant startup or expansion may result in cost overruns, production delays, contractual penalties, loss of revenues, reduced margins and impairment of customer relationships, which could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Some of our long-term supply agreements with our customers are subject to early termination and our failure to perform our obligations under these agreements or the termination of these agreements would materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operation.  

Our current long-term supply agreements expire between the end of the second quarter of 2020 and the end of 2023. Some of our long-term supply agreements contain provisions that allow for the early termination of these agreements upon the customer providing us with advance written notice and paying an early termination fee.  Additionally, our long-term supply agreements contain provisions allowing our customers to terminate these agreements upon our failure to deliver the contracted wind blade volumes or our failure to meet certain mutually agreed upon cost reductions. Our customers may not continue to maintain long-term supply agreements with us in the future. If one or more of our customers terminate, or reduce the number of lines or fail to renew their long-term supply agreements with us, it would materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our long-term supply agreements and our backlog are subject to reduction within contractual parameters and we may not realize all of the expected revenue.

Our current long-term wind blade supply agreements generally establish annual purchase requirements on which we rely for our future production and financial forecasts. However, the timing and volume of purchases, within certain parameters, may be subject to change by our customers.  In addition, the amount of the annual purchase requirements typically decline in the later years of our long-term supply agreements. In some instances, our customers have the contractual right to require us to reduce the number of manufacturing lines committed to them and correspondingly reduce their minimum annual purchase requirements. Additionally, our minimum annual purchase commitments could potentially understate the forecasted net sales that we are likely to generate in a given period or periods if all of our long-term supply agreements remain in place and pricing remains materially unchanged. Such minimum annual purchase requirements could also potentially overstate the forecasted net sales that we are likely to generate in a given period or periods if one or more of our long-term supply agreements were to be terminated by our customers for any reason. As a result, we may not realize the forecasted net sales we expect under our long-term supply agreements or pursuant to our backlog, which we define as the value of purchase orders received less the revenue recognized to date on those purchase orders. In addition, fulfillment of our backlog may not result in profits.

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Many of our long-term supply agreements contain liquidated damages provisions, which may require us to make unanticipated payments to our customers.

Many of our long-term supply agreements contain liquidated damages provisions in the event that we fail to perform our obligations thereunder in a timely manner or in accordance with the agreed terms, conditions and standards. Our liquidated damages provisions generally require us to make a payment to the customer if we fail to deliver a product or service on time. We generally try to limit our exposure under any individual long-term supply agreement to a maximum penalty. Nevertheless, if we incur liquidated damages, they may materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our wind turbine OEM customers are facing increasing competition and pricing pressure due to the increasing prevalence of auction-based tenders in wind energy markets, and correspondingly our margins and results of operations may be adversely affected.

Many governments are shifting from feed-in tariffs to auction-based tenders as a means of promoting the development and growth of renewable energy sources such as wind energy.  As a result of this shift, our wind turbine OEM customers are experiencing intense pricing pressure with respect to the sale of their turbines. As a result of this pricing pressure, we will be required to further reduce the costs we incur to manufacture wind blades to remain competitive.  We typically share the benefit of cost reductions related to manufacturing wind blades with our customers pursuant to the terms of our long-term supply agreements.  If these pricing pressures continue, we may choose to reduce our margins or pass on a greater percentage of the savings to our OEM customers obtained from manufacturing cost reductions than required under our supply agreements to remain competitive, each of which may materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although a majority of our manufacturing facilities are located outside the United States, our business is still heavily dependent upon the demand for wind energy in the United States and any downturn in demand for wind energy in the United States could materially harm our business.

We have developed a global footprint to serve the growing wind energy market worldwide and have wind blade manufacturing facilities in the United States, China, Mexico, Turkey and India. Although a majority of our manufacturing facilities are located outside of the United States, historically more than half of the wind blades that we produced were deployed in wind farms located within the United States. Our Iowa and Mexico manufacturing facilities manufacture wind blades that are generally deployed within the United States. In addition, we export wind blades from our China and Turkey manufacturing facilities to the United States and wind blades that will be produced at our India manufacturing facility could be exported by our customers to the United States as well. Consequently, demand for wind energy and our wind blade sales in the United States could be adversely affected by a variety of reasons and factors, and any downturn in demand for wind energy and our wind blade sales in the United States could materially harm our business.

We could experience shortages of raw materials or components critical to our manufacturing needs, which may hinder our ability to perform under our supply agreements.

We rely upon third parties for raw materials, such as fiberglass, carbon, resins, foam core and balsa wood, and various components for the wind blades we manufacture. Some of these raw materials and components may only be purchased from a limited number of suppliers. For example, balsa wood is only grown and produced in a limited number of geographies and is only available from a limited number of suppliers. Additionally, our ability to purchase the appropriate quantities of raw materials is constrained by our customers’ transitioning wind blade designs and specifications. As a result, we maintain relatively low inventory and acquire raw materials and components as needed. Due to significant international demand for these raw materials from many industries, we may be unable to acquire sufficient quantities or secure a stable supply for our manufacturing needs. If shortages or delays occur, we may be unable to provide our products to our customers on time, or at all. In some instances, our customers directly control the purchase of certain key raw materials and components and if they are unable to procure and provide us with such raw materials and components, it could cause delays and disruptions with respect to our business and operations. In addition, a disruption in any aspect of our global supply chain caused by transportation delays, customs delays, cost issues or other factors could result in a shortage of raw materials or components critical to our manufacturing needs. Any supply shortages, delays in the shipment of materials or components from third party suppliers, or changes in the terms on which they are available could disrupt or materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

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We operate in an industry characterized by changing customer demands and associated transition costs, which could materially harm our business.

The wind energy industry is competitive and is characterized by evolving customer demands. As a result, we must adapt quickly to customer requests for changes to wind blade specifications, which increases our costs and can provide periods of reduced revenue and margins. For instance, during 2018 and into 2019, we have undertaken and will undertake model transitions at several of our facilities for various customer demands. In 2018 we had 15 manufacturing lines in transition which impacted our revenue growth. We currently expect to have 10 manufacturing lines in transition during 2019 which could adversely affect our revenue growth and profitability in 2019. We are generally able to share transition costs with the customer in connection with these changing customer demands, but any sharing is the subject of negotiation and the amount is not always contractually defined. If we do not receive transition payments from our customers sufficient to cover our transition costs or lost margins, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially harmed.

The concentration of customers in our wind business could enable one or more of our customers to attempt to substantially influence our policies, business and affairs going forward, or adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations if one or more of our customers experience financial difficulties, become insolvent or file for bankruptcy.

Our dependence on six wind blade customers for substantially all of our revenues could encourage these customers to attempt to impose new or additional requirements on us that reduce the profitability of our long-term supply agreements with them or otherwise influence our policies, choice of and arrangements with raw material suppliers and other aspects of our business. Our customers could also attempt to influence the outcome of a corporate transaction if the transaction benefits a customer’s competitor or is otherwise perceived as not advantageous to a customer, which could have the effect of delaying, deterring, or preventing a transaction that could benefit us. In addition, consolidation of some of our customers may result in increased customer concentration and the potential loss of customers. For example, Nordex completed its acquisition of Acciona in 2016 and Gamesa completed the merger of Siemens’ Wind Power with Gamesa in 2017. Although we are not constrained by any exclusivity agreements with any of our existing wind blade customers, they may resist our development of new customer relationships, which could affect our relationships with them or our ability to secure new customers.

In addition, if one or more of our customers experience financial difficulties, demand for the wind blades we manufacture could decline significantly. In such a circumstance, we could also be at risk of collecting accounts receivable amounts owed from such customers as well as realizing the value of inventory balances for such customers. Similarly, if one or more of our customers becomes insolvent or files for bankruptcy, the demand for the wind blades we manufacture from the affected customers could be eliminated altogether.  If any of our customers experience financial difficulties, they also may seek pricing concessions, extended payment terms, reduced minimum purchase commitments and other changes to the key terms of our supply agreements that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.    

Demand for the wind blades we manufacture may fluctuate for a variety of reasons, including the growth of the wind industry, and decreases in demand could materially harm our business and may not be sufficient to support our growth strategy.

Our revenues, business prospects and growth strategy heavily depend on the continued growth of the wind industry and our customers’ continuing demand for wind blades. Customer demand could decrease from anticipated levels due to numerous factors outside of our control that may affect the development of the wind energy market generally, portions of the market or individual wind project developments, including:

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In addition to factors affecting the wind energy market generally, our customers’ demand may also fluctuate based on other factors beyond our control. Any decline in customer demand below anticipated levels could materially harm our revenues and operating results and could delay or impede our growth strategy.

Changes in customers’ business focus and strategy could materially harm our business and results of operations.

Changes in our customers’ business focus could significantly reduce their demand for wind blades. For instance, GE, the parent corporation of GE Wind, is a highly diversified company that operates in a number of different industries and could decide to devote more resources to operations outside of wind energy or cease selling wind turbines altogether. In addition, we expect that GE Wind will utilize LM for a substantial percentage of its wind blade production in the future. If any of our customers change their business focus, including a strategic shift to insource a material portion of its wind blade production requirements, it could materially harm our business and results of operations.

We have experienced in the past, and our future wind blade production could be affected by, operating problems at our facilities, which may materially harm our operating results and financial condition.

Our wind blade manufacturing processes and production capacity have in the past been, and could in the future be, disrupted by a variety of issues, including:

The cost of repeated or prolonged interruptions, reductions in production capacity, or the repair or replacement of complex and sophisticated tooling and equipment may be considerable and could result in damages under or the termination of our long-term supply agreements or penalties for regulatory non-compliance, any of which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

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We operate a substantial portion of our business in international markets and we may be unable to effectively manage a variety of currency, legal, regulatory, economic, social and political risks associated with our global operations and those in developing markets.

We currently operate manufacturing facilities in the United States, China, Mexico and Turkey, and we are expanding our operations to India to meet customer demand in India. Since 2016, we have commenced operations at three new manufacturing facilities in Mexico, one in Turkey and one in Iowa. In March 2018, we signed a lease to construct a new manufacturing facility in the Yangzhou Economic & Technical Development Zone in Yangzhou, China and we expect to commence operations at this facility in the first quarter of 2019. Also, in February 2019, we signed a lease to construct a new manufacturing facility that will be built near Chennai, India and we expect to commence operations at this facility in the first half of 2020. For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, approximately 84%, 80% and 75%, respectively, of our net sales were derived from our international operations and we expect that a substantial portion of our projected revenue growth will be derived from those operations. Our overall success depends, in part, upon our ability to succeed in differing legal, regulatory, economic, social and political conditions. The global nature of our operations is subject to a variety of risks, including:

In particular, our operations in China are subject to a variety of specific risks, which may adversely affect our business, including:

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We also operate in developing markets, which have, in the past, experienced, and may in the future experience, social and political unrest. For example, Turkey has experienced problems with domestic terrorist and ethnic separatist groups and attempted military coups. The issue of civil rights for Kurdish citizens remains a potential source of political instability, which may be exacerbated by continuing instability in the Middle East.

In addition, the locations of our manufacturing facilities in Juárez, Mexico and Matamoros, Mexico are, and have been in the past, subject to violence related to drug trafficking, including kidnappings and killings. This could negatively impact our ability to hire and retain personnel, especially senior U.S. managers, to continue to work at these facilities, or disrupt our operation in other ways, which could materially harm our business.

As we continue to operate our business globally, our success will depend, in part, on our ability to anticipate and effectively manage these and other related risks. We may be unsuccessful in developing and implementing policies and strategies that will be effective in managing these risks in each country where we do business or conduct operations. Our failure to manage these risks successfully could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may not achieve the long-term growth we anticipate if wind turbine OEMs do not continue to shift from in-house production of wind blades to outsourced wind blade suppliers and if we do not expand our customer relationships and add new customers.

Many wind turbine OEMs rely on in-house production of wind blades for some or all of their wind turbines. Our growth strategy depends in large part on the continued expansion of our relationships with our current wind blade customers, and the addition of new key customers. All of our customers possess the financial, engineering and technical capabilities to produce their own wind blades and many source wind blades from multiple suppliers. Our existing customers may not expand their wind energy operations or, if they do, they may not choose us to supply them with new or additional quantities of wind blades. Our collaborative dedicated supplier model for the manufacture of wind blades is a significant departure from traditional vertically integrated methods. As is typical for rapidly evolving industries, customer demand for new business models is highly uncertain. Although we have entered into long-term supply agreements with customers that also produce wind blades for their wind turbines in-house, we may not be able to maintain these customer relationships or enter into similar arrangements with new customers that produce wind blades in-house in the future. In addition, although GE Wind historically outsourced all of their wind blade production requirements prior to its acquisition of LM, we expect that GE Wind will utilize LM for a substantial percentage of its wind blade production in the future. Our business and growth strategies depend in large part on the continuation of the trend toward outsourcing manufacturing. If that trend does not continue or we are unsuccessful in persuading wind turbine OEMs to shift from in-house production to the outsourcing of their wind blade manufacturing, we may not achieve the long-term growth we anticipate and our market share could be limited.

A drop in the price of energy sources other than wind energy, or our inability to deliver wind blades that compete with the price of other energy sources, may materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We believe that the decision to purchase wind energy is, to a significant degree, driven by the relative cost of electricity generated by wind turbines compared to the applicable price of electricity from the utility grid and the cost of traditional and other renewable energy sources. Decreases in the prices of electricity from the relevant utility grid or from renewable energy sources other than wind energy, such as solar, would harm the market for wind energy. In particular, a drop in natural gas prices could lessen the appeal of wind-generated electricity.

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Technological advancements or the construction of a significant number of power generation plants, including nuclear, coal, natural gas or power plants utilizing other renewable energy technologies, government support for other forms of renewable energy or construction of additional electric transmission and distribution lines could reduce the price of electricity produced by competing methods, thereby making the purchase of wind energy less attractive. For example, in 2017, President Trump signed an executive order t hat is intended to promote the domestic coal industry, which may make the cost of electricity generated from coal more cost competitive. The ability of energy conservation technologies, public initiatives and government incentives to reduce electricity consumption or support other forms of renewable energy could also lead to a reduction in the price of electricity, which would undermine the attractiveness of wind energy and thus wind turbines, and, ultimately wind blades. If prices for electricity generated by wind turbines are not competitive, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially harmed.

If any precision molding and assembly systems needed for our manufacturing process contains a defect or is not fabricated and delivered in a timely manner, our ongoing manufacturing operations, business, financial condition and results of operation may be materially harmed.

We custom fabricate many of the precision molding and assembly systems used in our facilities. Our customers also have the option of using third-party manufacturers to produce their custom tooling. If any piece of equipment fails, is determined to produce nonconforming or defective products or is not fabricated and delivered in a timely manner, whether produced by us or a third party, our wind blade production could be interrupted and we could be subject to contractual penalties, warranty claims, loss of revenues and damage to our customer relationships, among other consequences.

The long sales cycle involved in attracting new customers may make the timing of our revenue difficult to predict and may cause our operating results to fluctuate.

The complexity, expense and long-term nature of our supply agreements generally require a lengthy customer education, evaluation and approval process. It can take us from several months to years to identify and attract new customers, if we are successful at all. This long sales cycle for attracting and retaining new customers subjects us to a number of significant risks that may materially harm our business, results of operation and financial condition over which we have limited control, including fluctuations in our quarterly operating results. In addition, we may incur substantial expenses and devote significant management effort to develop potential relationships that do not result in agreements or revenue and may prevent us from pursuing other opportunities.

We encounter intense competition for limited customers from other wind blade manufacturers, as well as in-house production by wind turbine OEMs, which may make it difficult to enter into long-term supply agreements, keep existing customers and potentially get new customers.

We face significant competition from other wind blade manufacturers, and this competition may intensify in the future. The wind turbine market is characterized by a relatively small number of large OEMs. In addition, a significant percentage of wind turbine OEMs, including most of our current customers, produce some of their own wind blades in-house. As a result, we compete for business from a limited number of customers that outsource the production of wind blades. We also compete with a number of wind blade manufacturers in China, who are growing in terms of their technical capability and aspire to expand outside of China. Many of our competitors have more experience in the wind energy industry, as well as greater financial, technical or human resources than we do, which may limit our ability to compete effectively with them and maintain or improve our market share. Additionally, our long-term supply agreements dedicate capacity at our facilities to our customers, which may also limit our ability to compete if our facilities cannot accommodate additional capacity. If we are unable to compete effectively for the limited number of customers that outsource production of wind blades, our ability to enter into long-term supply agreements with potential new and existing customers may be materially harmed.

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We could be affected by increasing competition from new and existing industry participants and industry consolidation.

The markets in which we operate are increasingly competitive and any failure on our part to compete effectively on an ongoing basis could materially harm our business, results of operations or financial condition. The key factors affecting competition in the wind energy industry are the capacity and quality of products, technology, price, the ability to fulfill local market requirements and the scope, cost and location of manufacturing facilities.

Competition in the wind energy industry has intensified in recent years as a result of a number of factors, including international expansion by existing industry participants exploiting new markets, particularly as political will around the issues of global warming and the environment become more prominent to the political agenda in those new markets. There has also been increasing pressure from Asian manufacturers improving the quality and reliability of their technologies, and considering moving out of their local markets and into international cross border transactions. Western wind turbine OEMs have now started using Asian manufacturers for a portion of their wind blades. Market entry by certain large industrial groups, including those previously unconnected to the wind energy market, through acquisitions and license agreements and numerous greenfield establishments in certain markets, also poses a competition risk.

The competitive environment in the wind energy industry may become more challenging in the years ahead, particularly in the event of greater consolidation in the industry, leading to greater market power and “economies of scale” by such market players which translate into being able to offer greater “cost of energy” savings to wind power plant customers. For example, GE completed its acquisition of LM in 2017 and also acquired Alstom S.A.’s power business in 2015; Nordex completed its acquisition of Acciona in 2016 and Gamesa merged with Siemens’ Wind Power in 2017. These transactions or further consolidation in the wind energy industry may have an adverse impact on our business in the future, including, without limitation, reduced demand for our products and services, product innovation, changes in pricing and similar factors, including any competitor’s attempt to duplicate our collaborative dedicated supplier model. Such events could materially harm our business, results of operations, financial condition or prospects.

Significant increases in the prices of raw materials or components that cannot be reflected in the price of our products could negatively affect our operating margins.

The prices of our raw materials and components are subject to price fluctuations resulting from volatility of supply and demand in world markets. Under our long-term supply agreements, our customers generally commit to purchase minimum annual volumes and prices for wind blades are generally set as of the date of our supply agreements and adjusted quarterly, for the cost of raw material and our operating expenses in certain cases. As a result, the competitive nature of the wind blade market and our long-term supply agreements with our customers may delay or prevent us from passing cost increases in raw materials and components on to our customers. Significant increases in the price of raw materials or components used in our manufactured wind blades that cannot be reflected in the price of our products, could negatively affect our operating margins and materially harm our business, operating results or financial condition.

GE’s acquisition of LM Wind Power, our largest competitor, may materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations and may cause the price of our common stock to decline.

In 2017, GE completed its acquisition of LM Wind Power, our largest competitor. By the end of 2016, we had entered into five supply agreements with GE Wind providing for the supply of wind blades from our Iowa, Mexico, Turkey and our Taicang Port, China facilities. In 2016, we entered into (i) an amended and restated supply agreement for the continued supply of wind blades from our Iowa facility through December 31, 2020, (ii)  an amendment to our existing supply agreement for the continued supply of wind blades from our original Juárez, Mexico facility through December 31, 2020 and (iii) a new supply agreement with GE Wind for the supply of incremental wind blades from our second manufacturing facility in Juárez, Mexico through December 31, 2020. GE Wind elected not to renew or extend the Turkey and Taicang Port, China supply agreements, which both expired on December 31, 2017. We expect that GE Wind will utilize LM for a substantial percentage of its wind blade production in the future. As such, GE Wind may not continue to purchase wind blades from us at similar volumes or on as favorable terms in the future. In August 2018, GE Wind did agree to extend our existing supply agreement in

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one of our Mexico plants by two years to 2022 and increase d the number of wind blade manufacturing lines in that facility from three to five . In addition, GE Wind has agreed to transition to a larger blade model in our Newton, Iowa plant in early 2019 and to eliminate its option to terminate their supply agreement at this location prior to its December 2020 expiration. Unless otherwise terminated or renewed, our supply agreements with GE Wind are in effect until the end of 2020 for our Iowa and one of our Mexico facilities and until the end of 2022 for our other Mexico facility. GE Wind may terminate the Mexico supply agreements with no advance notice and paying us termination fees as set forth in the applicable agreement. In addition, either party may terminate these supply agreements upon a material breach by the other party which goes uncured for 30 days after written notice has been provided. If GE Wind elects to utilize LM or another supplier for more of its wind blade production, reduce the volumes of wind blades it purchases from us or terminates any of our supply agreements, it may materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Certain of our long-term supply agreements are highly dependent upon a limited number of suppliers of raw materials.

Our ability to perform under certain of our long-term supply agreements is currently, and may continue to be in the future, highly dependent on a limited number of suppliers of raw materials. For instance, our agreements with certain customers require us or our customers to purchase raw materials from a single supplier unless additional suppliers are evaluated and found to satisfy the requirements set out in those agreements. In 2015, for example, our ability to supply wind blades to one of our customers was constrained because our customer, who under our agreement was required to procure a sufficient supply of a specific type of material, was unable to procure the material from a single source supplier. Should any of these suppliers of raw materials experience production delays or shortages, have their operations interrupted or otherwise cease or curtail their operations, this may disrupt or materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Significant increases in the cost of transporting the wind blades we manufacture could negatively affect the demand for our products.

A significant portion of our customers’ costs relate to the costs necessary to transport the wind blades we manufacture to their customers’ wind farms. Demand for our products could be negatively affected if the costs our customers bear to transport the wind blades we manufacture materially increase.

The nature of our manufacturing processes and unanticipated changes to those processes could significantly reduce our manufacturing yields and product reliability, which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

The manufacturing of our wind blades involves highly complex and precise processes which may be dictated by our customers’ requests requiring production in highly controlled environments. Changes in our manufacturing processes or that are required by our customers could affect product reliability. Furthermore, many of our processes are manual to facilitate production flexibility and compliance with customer requirements. A manually dependent manufacturing process can limit capacity and increase production costs. In some cases, existing manufacturing techniques may be insufficient to achieve the volume or cost targets of our customers. For example, our manufacturing processes may at times require a quantity of raw materials greater than the quantity for which we have contracted, making it difficult for us to achieve the targeted cost levels negotiated with our customers. In order to achieve targeted volume and cost levels, we may need to increase the quantity of raw materials for which we contract or develop new manufacturing processes and techniques. While we continue to devote substantial efforts to the improvement of our manufacturing techniques and processes, we may not achieve manufacturing volumes and cost levels in our manufacturing activities that will fully satisfy customer demands, which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our reserves for warranty expenses might not be sufficient to cover all future costs.

We provide warranties for all of the wind blades and precision molding and assembly systems we produce, including parts and labor, for periods that typically range from two to five years depending on the product sold. If a wind blade is found to be defective during the warranty period as a result of a defect in workmanship or materials, or if we are required to cover remediation expenses or other potential remedies, in addition to our regular warranty

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coverage we may need to repair or replace the wind blade (which could include significant transportation, installation and erection costs) at our sole expense. Our estimate of warranty expense requires us to make assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain, including future rates of product failure, repair costs, shipping and handling and de-installation and re-installation costs at customers’ sites. Our assumptions could be materially different from the actual performance of our products and these remediation expenses in the future. The expenses associated with wind blade repair and remediation activities can be substantial and may include changes to our manufacturing processes. If our estimates prove materially incorrect, we could incur warranty expenses that exceed our reserves and be required to make material unplanned cash expenditures, which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may not be able to meet our customers’ future wind blade supply demands, which may hinder our customer relationships and reputation.

Historically, our existing customers’ demand and MW capacity goals have mirrored the anticipated growth of the wind energy industry. Given the importance of wind energy capture, turbine reliability and cost to power producers, the size, quality and performance of wind blades have become highly strategic to our OEM customers. If we are unable to maintain future manufacturing capacity at levels that meet our customers’ increasing demands, including with respect to volume, technical specifications, or commercial terms, our existing customers may seek relationships with, or give priority to, other wind blade manufacturers or may use or develop their own internal manufacturing capabilities to meet their increased demand, which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition. In addition, our reputation could be materially harmed if we are unable to satisfy the requirements of our customers.

We rely on our research and development efforts to remain competitive, and we may fail to develop on a timely basis new wind blade manufacturing technologies that are commercially attractive or permit us to keep up with customer demands.

The market for wind blades is subject to evolving customer needs and expectations. Our research and development is invested in developing faster and more efficient manufacturing processes in order to build the new wind blades designed by our customers that more effectively capture wind energy and are adaptable to new growth segments of the wind energy market. Research and development activities are inherently uncertain and the results of our in-house research and development may not be successful. In addition, our competition may adopt more advanced technologies or develop wind blades that are more effective or commercially attractive. We believe that our future success will depend in large part upon our ability to be at the forefront of technological innovation in the wind energy industry and to rapidly and cost-effectively adapt our wind blade manufacturing processes to keep pace with changing technologies, new wind blade design and changing customer needs. If we are unable to do so, our business, operating results, financial condition and reputation could be materially harmed.

We depend on third parties for certain construction, maintenance, engineering, transportation, warehousing and logistics services, and failures of those third parties to perform their obligations may in turn impede our ability to perform our obligations.

We contract with third parties for certain services relating to the design, construction and maintenance of various components of our production facilities and other systems. If these third parties fail to comply with their obligations:

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Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition. Our customers also contract with third parties for the transportation of the products we manufacture. In particular, a significant portion of the goods we manufacture are transported to different countries, which requires customized shipping cradles, sophisticated warehousing, logistics and other resources. If our customers fail to contract with third parties for certain construction, maintenance, engineering, transportation, warehousing and logistics services, or there are any disruptions, delays or failures in these services, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.

Various legislation, regulations and incentives that are expected to support the growth of wind energy in the United States and around the world may not be extended or may be discontinued, phased out or changed, or may not be successfully implemented, which could materially harm wind energy programs and materially decrease demand for the wind blades we manufacture.

The U.S. wind energy industry is dependent in part upon governmental support through certain incentives including federal tax incentives and RPS programs and may not be economically viable absent such incentives. Government-sponsored tax incentive programs including the PTC, and to a lesser extent, the Investment Tax Credit, are expected to support the U.S. growth of wind energy. The PTC provided the owner of a wind turbine placed in operation before January 1, 2015 with a ten year credit against its U.S. federal income tax obligations based on the amount of electricity generated by the wind turbine.

Although the PTC was extended in December 2015 for wind power projects through December 31, 2019, as currently contemplated, the PTC rate is being phased out over the term of the PTC extension. Specifically, as currently contemplated, the PTC will remain at the same rate in effect at the end of 2014 for wind power projects that commence construction by the end of 2016, and thereafter will be reduced by 20% per year in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Reform) legislation preserved the PTC, which was a positive outcome for the wind industry. However, while the tax equity market continues to function, Tax Reform has created some near-term uncertainty around the amount of available tax equity financing as financial institutions fully evaluate the impacts of the new tax law.

In 2015, the EPA enacted the Clean Power Plan, which is also intended to promote the growth of renewable energy. However, in 2016, the U. S. Supreme Court issued a stay of the EPA’s implementation of the Clean Power Plan until the D.C. Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals reviews the merits of multiple lawsuits challenging the legality of the Clean Power Plan. If the Clean Power Plan is not successfully implemented, demand for the wind blades we manufacture may be materially decreased. In addition, in 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that requires, among other things, that the EPA review the Clean Power Plan and publish a rule to either suspend, revise or rescind it.

In addition, many state governments have adopted measures designed to promote wind energy. For example, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), at the state level, as of December 31, 2018, 29 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have implemented RPS programs that mandate that a specific percentage of electricity sales in a state come from renewable energy within a specified period. However, some RPS programs have been challenged and all of them may not continue going forward. These programs have spurred significant growth in the wind energy industry in the United States and a corresponding increase in the demand for our manufactured wind blades. However, although the U.S. government and several state governments have adopted these various programs that are expected to help drive the growth of wind energy, they may approve new or additional programs that might hinder the wind energy industry and therefore negatively impact our business, operating results or financial condition.

China is implementing its 13 ^th 5-Year Plan with a goal of 15% energy from non-fossil fuel sources and targeting 210 GWs of grid-connected wind capacity by 2020, according to its National Development and Reform Commission, and employs preferential feed-in tariff schemes, in addition to local tax-based incentives. Mexico has established strict targets, aiming for 35% renewable energy by 2024 and 50% by 2050, according to WoodMac, which it is facilitating through tax incentives. Large European Union members have renewable energy targets for 2020 of between 13% and 49% of all energy use derived from renewable energy sources, according to WoodMac. Turkey enacted Law No. 5346 in 2005 to promote renewable-based electricity generation within its domestic electricity market by introducing tariffs and purchase obligations for distribution companies requiring purchases

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from certified renewable energy producers. The World Bank also provided to Turkey an aggregate of $600 million of loan proceeds to encourage investors to construct generation plants with renewable energy resources. These programs have spurred significant growth in the wind energy industry internationally and a corresponding increase in the demand for our manufactured wind blades. However, although foreign governments have adopted various programs that are expected to drive the growth of wind energy, they may approve new or additional programs going forward that might hinder the wind energy industry and therefore negatively impact our business as a result. For example, foreign governments may decide to reduce or eliminate these economic incentives for political, financial or other reasons. They may also favor other forms of energy, including current and new sources of energy such as solar, nuclear and hydropower. Foreign governments may also cancel or delay scheduled tender offers or auctions for wind energy projects.  For example, the Mexican government recently canceled the country’s fourth energy tender which was in the final stages to contract a minimum 5% of national power by 2021.

Because of the long lead times necessary to develop wind energy projects, any uncertainty or delay in adopting, extending or renewing these incentives beyond their current or future expiration dates could negatively impact potential wind energy installations and result in industry volatility. There can be no assurance that the PTC, the Clean Power Plan, tender offers, auctions or other governmental programs or subsidies for renewable energy will remain in effect in their present form or at all, and the elimination, reduction, or modification of these programs or subsidies could materially harm wind energy programs in the United States and international markets and materially decrease demand for the wind blades we manufacture and, in turn, materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may not be able to obtain, or agree on acceptable terms and conditions for, government tax credits, grants, loans and other incentives for which we have in the past applied or may in the future apply, which may materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We have in the past and may in the future rely, in part, on tax credits, grants, loans and other incentives under U.S. and foreign governmental programs to support the construction of new plants and expansion of existing manufacturing facilities. We may not be successful in obtaining these tax credits, grants, loans and other incentives, and the tax and other incentives that have already been approved may not be continued in the future. Our ability to obtain funds or incentives from government sources is subject to the availability of funds under applicable governmental programs and approval of our applications to participate in these programs. The application process for these funds and other incentives is and will be highly competitive. We may not be able to satisfy the requirements and milestones imposed by the granting authority as conditions to receipt of the funds or other incentives, the timing of the receipt of the funds may not meet our needs, and, even if obtained, we may be unable to successfully execute on our business plan. Moreover, not all of the terms and conditions associated with these incentive funds have been disclosed to us, and once disclosed, there may be terms and conditions with which we are unable to comply or that are commercially unacceptable to us. Further, participation in certain programs may require us to notify the federal government of certain intellectual property we develop and comply with applicable regulations in order to protect our interests in that intellectual property. In addition, these federal governmental programs may require us to spend a portion of our own funds for every incentive dollar we receive or are permitted to borrow from the government and may impose time limits during which we must use the funds awarded to us that we may be unable to achieve. If we are unable to obtain or comply with the terms of these tax credits, grants, loans or other incentives, our business, operating results and financial condition may be harmed.

Adverse weather conditions could impact the wind energy industry in some regions and could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our business may be subject to fluctuations in sales volumes due to adverse weather conditions that could delay the erection of wind turbines, the installation of wind blades and the ability of wind turbines to generate electricity efficiently. Moreover, any remediation efforts we could be required to undertake pursuant to wind blade warranties could be delayed or otherwise adversely impacted by poor weather. Although our customer base and manufacturing footprint is geographically diversified, enduring weather patterns or seasonal variations may impact the expansion of the wind energy industry in certain regions. A resulting reduction or delay in demand for the wind blades we manufacture for our customers could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

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Our long-term growth and success is dependent upon retaining our senior management and attracting and retaining qualified personnel.

Our growth and success depends to a significant extent on our ability to attract and retain highly qualified research and development, management, manufacturing, marketing and other key personnel including engineers in our various locations. In addition, we rely heavily on our management team, including Steven C. Lockard, our Chief Executive Officer; Joseph G. Kishkill, our Chief Commercial Officer; William E. Siwek, our Chief Financial Officer; and other senior management. The inability to recruit and retain key personnel or the unexpected loss of key personnel may materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition. Hiring those persons may be especially difficult because of the specialized nature of our business and our international operations. If we cannot attract and retain qualified personnel, or if we lose the services of Messrs. Lockard, Kishkill or Siwek, other key members of senior management or other key personnel, our ability to successfully execute our business plan, market and develop our products and serve our customers could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, because of our reliance on our management team, our future success depends, in part, on its ability to identify and develop talent to succeed its senior management. The retention of key personnel and appropriate senior management succession planning will continue to be critical to the successful implementation of our future strategies.

Risks Related to our Transportation Business

Our efforts to expand our transportation business and enter into other strategic markets may not be successful.

While our primary focus has been to manufacture composite wind blades, our strategy is to expand our transportation business and to enter into other strategic markets. In 2018, we expanded our relationship with Proterra and began supplying bus bodies from a new manufacturing facility in Newton, Iowa in addition to our manufacturing facility in Warren, Rhode Island. We experienced start up challenges in connection with the supply of bus bodies to Proterra from our Newton, Iowa manufacturing facility.  The expansion of our transportation business and our entry into other strategic markets will require improved execution in terms of our start up activity and ongoing manufacturing performance as well as significant levels of investment. There can be no assurance that our transportation business or other strategic markets will develop as anticipated or that we will have success in any such markets, and if we do not, we may be unable to recover our investment, which could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations, including potentially impairing the value of our goodwill.

We may incur material losses and costs as a result of product liability and warranty claims, litigation and other disputes and claims.

We are exposed to warranty and product liability claims if our transportation products fail to perform as expected. We may in the future be required to participate in a recall of these products or the vehicles incorporating our products. If public safety concerns are raised, we may have to participate in a recall even if our products are ultimately found not to be defective. Vehicle manufacturers have experienced increasing recall campaigns in recent years. Our customers may look to us for contribution when faced with recalls and product liability claims. If our customers demand higher warranty-related cost recoveries, or if our transportation products fail to perform as expected, our business, financial condition and results of operations could materially suffer.

We may also be exposed to product liability claims, warranty claims and damage to our reputation if our transportation products actually or allegedly fail to perform as expected or the use of our products results, or is alleged to result, in bodily injury or property damage. Recalls may also cause us to lose additional business from our customers. Material product defect issues may subject us to recalls of those products and restrictions on bidding on new customer programs.

Risks Related to Our Business as a Whole

We may not be able to manage our future growth effectively, which may materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We expect to continue to expand our business significantly to meet our current and expected future contractual obligations and to satisfy anticipated increased demand for our products. To manage our anticipated expansion, we believe we must scale our internal infrastructure, including establishing additional facilities, improve our operational systems and procedures and manufacturing capabilities, continue to enhance our compliance and quality assurance systems, train and manage our growing employee base, and retain and add to our current executives and

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management personnel. Rapid expansion of our operations could place a significant strain on our senior management team, support teams, manufacturing lines, information technology platforms and other resources. Difficulties in effectively managing the budgeting, forecasting and other process control issues presented by any rapid expansion could materially harm our business, prospects, results of operations or financial condition. Our inability to implement operational improvements, generate and sustain increased revenue and manage and control our cost of goods sold and operating expenses could impede our future growth and materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our financial position, revenue, operating results and profitability are difficult to predict and may vary from quarter to quarter, which could cause our share price to decline significantly.

Our quarterly revenue, operating results and profitability have varied in the past and are likely to vary significantly from quarter to quarter in the future. For example, our quarterly results have ranged from an operating profit of $21.0 million for the three months ended September 30, 2017 to an operating loss of $3.6 million for the three months ended December 31, 2018. The factors that are likely to cause these variations include:

As a result, our revenue, operating results and profitability for a particular period are difficult to predict and may decline in comparison to corresponding prior periods regardless of the strength of our business. It is also possible that in some future periods our revenue, operating results and profitability may not meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors. If this occurs, the trading price of our common stock could fall substantially, either suddenly or over time, and our business, operating results and financial condition would be materially harmed.

The fluctuation of foreign currency exchange rates could materially harm our financial results.

Since we conduct a significant portion of our operations internationally, our business is subject to foreign currency risks, including currency exchange rate fluctuations. The exchange rates are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. For example, an increase in our Turkey sales and operations will result in a larger portion of our net sales and expenditures being denominated in the Euro and Turkish Lira. Significant fluctuations in the exchange rate between the Turkish Lira and the U.S. dollar, the Turkish Lira and the Euro or the Euro and the U.S. dollar may adversely affect our revenue, expenses, as well as the value of our assets and liabilities. Similarly, an increase in our sales within China may result in a larger portion of our net sales and expenditures being denominated in Chinese Renminbi. The Chinese government controls the procedures by which

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the Chinese Renminbi is converted into other currencies, and conversion of the Chinese Renminbi generally requires government consent. As a result, the Chinese Renminbi may not be freely convertible into other currencies at all times. If the Chinese government institutes changes in currency conversion procedures, or imposes restrictions on currency conversion, those actions may materially harm our business, liquidity, financial condition and operating results. In addition, significant fluctuations in the exchange rate between the Chinese Renminbi and U.S. dollars may adversely affect our revenues, expenses as well as the value of our assets and liabilities. However, in Mexico, since all of our net sales and some of our expenditures are denominated in U.S. dollars, an increase in our Mexico sales and operations will result in a larger portion of our cost of goods sold being denominated in the Mexican Peso.  Significant fluctuations in the exchange rate between the Mexican Peso and the U.S. dollar may adversely affect our expenses, as well as the value of our assets and liabilities. To the extent our future revenues and expenses are generated outside of the United States in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, including the Euro, the Turkish Lira, the Chinese Renminbi, Mexican Peso or India Rupee, among others, we will be subject to increased risks relating to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations which could materially harm our business, financial condition and operating results.

Our manufacturing operations and future growth are dependent upon the availability of capital, which may be insufficient to support our capital expenditures.

Our current wind blade manufacturing activities and future growth will require substantial capital investment. For the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017, our capital expenditures were $74.7 million and $51.0 million, respectively, including assets acquired under capital lease in 2018 and 2017 of $22.0 million and $6.2 million, respectively. We have recently entered into lease agreements with third parties to lease new manufacturing facilities in China, India and Mexico. Major projects expected to be undertaken include purchasing equipment for our new manufacturing facilities in Yangzhou, China, Chennai, India, Matamoros, Mexico and Juarez, Mexico, and the expansion of our Mexico and Turkey facilities as well as costs to enhance our information technology systems. Our ability to grow our business is predicated upon us making significant additional capital investments to expand our existing manufacturing facilities and build and operate new manufacturing facilities in existing and new markets. We generally estimate that the startup of a new six-line manufacturing facility requires cash for net operating expenses and working capital of between $20 million to $25 million and additional capital expenditures primarily for machinery and equipment of between $30 million to $35 million. In addition, we estimate our annual maintenance capital expenditures to be between $1.0 million to $2.0 million per facility. We may not have the capital to undertake these capital investments. In addition, our capital expenditures may be significantly higher if our estimates of future capital investments are incorrect and may increase substantially if we are required to undertake actions to comply with new regulatory requirements or compete with new technologies. The cost of some projects may also be affected by foreign exchange rates if any raw materials or other goods must be paid for in foreign currency. We cannot assure you that we will be able to raise funds on favorable terms, if at all, or that future financings would not be dilutive to holders of our capital stock. We also cannot assure you that completed capital expenditures will yield the anticipated results. If we raise additional funds by obtaining loans from third parties, the terms of those financing arrangements may include negative covenants, or other restrictions on our business that could impair our operational flexibility, and would require us to fund additional interest expense. If we are unable to obtain sufficient capital at a reasonable cost or at all, we may not be able to expand production sufficiently to take advantage of changes in the marketplace or may be required to delay, reduce or eliminate some or all of our current operations, which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

As a U.S. corporation with international operations, we are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, which could impact our ability to compete in certain jurisdictions.

As a U.S. corporation, we are subject to the FCPA, which generally prohibits U.S. companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business. We have or will soon have manufacturing facilities in China, Mexico, Turkey and India, countries with a fairly high risk of corruption. Those facilities are subject to routine government oversight. In addition, a number of our raw materials and components suppliers are state-owned in China. Moreover, due to our need to import raw materials across international borders, we also routinely have interactions, directly or indirectly, with customs officials. In many foreign countries, under local custom, businesses engage in practices that may be prohibited by the FCPA or other similar laws and regulations. Additionally, we continue to hire employees around the world as we continue to expand. Although we have implemented certain procedures and controls designed to ensure compliance with the

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FCPA and similar laws, there can be no guarantee that all of our employees and agents, as well as those companies to which we outsource certain of our business operations, have not taken and will not take actions that violate our policies and the FCPA, which could subject us to fines, penalties, disgorgement, and loss of business, harm our reputation and impact our ability to compete in certain jurisdictions. In addition, these laws are complex and far-reaching in nature, and, as a result, we may be required in the future to alter one or more of our practices to be in compliance with these laws or any changes in these laws or the interpretation thereof. Moreover, our competitors may not be subject to the FCPA or comparable legislation, which could provide them with a competitive advantage in some jurisdictions.

We may have difficulty making distributions and repatriating earnings from our Chinese manufacturing operations, which may also occur in some of our other locations.

A material portion of our business is conducted in China. As of December 31, 2018, our China operations had unrestricted cash of $28.9 million, most of which will be used to fund our future operations in China. Our ability to repatriate funds from China to the United States is subject to a number of restrictions imposed by the Chinese government. We repatriate funds through several technology license contracts and corporate/administrative service agreements. We are compensated quarterly based on agreed upon royalty rates for such intellectual property licenses and quarterly fees for those services. Certain of our subsidiaries are limited in their ability to declare dividends without first meeting statutory restrictions of the People’s Republic of China, including retained earnings as determined under Chinese-statutory accounting requirements. Until 50% ($21.6 million) of registered capital is contributed to a surplus reserve, our Chinese operations can only pay dividends equal to 90% of after-tax profits (10% must be contributed to the surplus reserve). Once the surplus reserve fund requirement is met, we can pay dividends equal to 100% of after-tax profit assuming other conditions are met. At December 31, 2018, the amount of the surplus reserve fund was $6.5 million. Any inability to make distributions, repatriate earnings or otherwise access funds from our manufacturing operations in China, if and when needed for use outside of China, could materially harm our liquidity and our business.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and effectively address fraud risks.

We maintain a system of internal controls to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). The process of designing and implementing effective internal controls is a continuous effort that requires us to anticipate and react to changes in our business and the economic and regulatory environments and to expend significant resources to establish and maintain a system of internal controls that will be adequate to satisfy the reporting obligations of a public company. The effectiveness of our internal controls depends in part on the cooperation of senior managers worldwide.

Any system of controls, however well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, and not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the system are met. Any failure to maintain that system, or consequent inability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis, could increase our operating costs and harm our business, and lead to our becoming subject to litigation, sanctions or investigations by The NASDAQ Global Market (NASDAQ), the SEC or other regulatory governmental agencies and bodies. Furthermore, investors’ perceptions that our internal controls are inadequate or that we are unable to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis may harm our stock price.

We have in the past experienced material weaknesses. While we have successfully remediated those material weaknesses, we could experience control deficiencies in the future or identify areas requiring improvement in our internal control over financial reporting.

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The state of financial markets and the economy may materially harm our sources of liquidity and capital.

There has been significant recent turmoil and volatility in worldwide financial markets. These conditions have resulted in a disruption in the liquidity of financial markets, and could directly impact us to the extent we need to access capital markets to raise funds to support our business and overall liquidity position. This situation could affect the cost of such funds or our ability to raise such funds. If we were unable to access any of these funding sources when needed, it could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards may be subject to limitation and may result in increased future tax liability.

Sections 382 and 383 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code), contain rules that limit the ability of a company that undergoes an “ownership change” to utilize its net operating loss and tax credit carry forwards and certain built-in losses recognized in years after the “ownership change”. An “ownership change” is generally defined as any change in ownership of more than 50% of a corporation’s stock over a rolling three-year period by stockholders that own (directly or indirectly) 5% or more of the stock of a corporation, or arising from a new issuance of stock by a corporation. If an ownership change occurs, Section 382 generally imposes an annual limitation on the use of pre-ownership change net operating losses (NOLs), credits and certain other tax attributes to offset taxable income earned after the ownership change. The annual limitation is equal to the product of the applicable long-term tax exempt rate and the value of our common stock immediately before the ownership change. This annual limitation may be adjusted to reflect any unused annual limitation for prior years and certain recognized built-in gains and losses for the year. In addition, Section 383 generally limits the amount of tax liability in any post-ownership change year that can be reduced by pre-ownership change tax credit carryforwards. This could result in increased U.S. federal income tax liability for us if we generate taxable income in a future period. Limitations on the use of NOLs and other tax attributes could also increase our state tax liability. The use of our tax attributes will also be limited to the extent that we do not generate positive taxable income in future tax periods. As a result of these limitations, we may be unable to offset future taxable income (if any) with losses, or our tax liability with credits, before such losses and credits expire. Accordingly, these limitations may increase our federal income tax liability.

We experienced an “ownership change” in June 2018, and it remains possible that future transactions may cause us to undergo one or more ownership changes. As of December 31, 2018, we have U.S. federal NOLs of approximately $25.8 million and state NOLs of approximately $118.5 million. The pre-ownership change NOLs existing at the date of change of $47.7 million are subject to annual limitation.  We do not believe that the Section 382 and 383 annual limitation will materially impact our ability to utilize the tax attributes that existed as of the date of the ownership change.

We have U.S. federal and state NOLs. In general, NOLs in one country cannot be used to offset income in any other country and NOLs in one state cannot be used to offset income in any other state. Accordingly, we may be subject to tax in certain jurisdictions even if we have unused NOLs in other jurisdictions. Also, each jurisdiction in which we operate may have its own limitations on our ability to utilize NOLs or tax credit carryovers generated in that jurisdiction. These limitations may increase our federal, state, and/or foreign income tax liability.

Comprehensive tax reform legislation could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.              

On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law Tax Reform, which significantly revised U.S. tax law by, among other things, lowering the statutory federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, eliminating certain deductions, imposing a mandatory one-time transition tax on certain accumulated earnings and profits of foreign corporate subsidiaries (the Transition Tax), introducing new tax regimes, and changing how foreign earnings are subject to U.S. tax. Tax Reform also includes many new provisions, such as changes to bonus depreciation, changes to deductions for executive compensation, interest expense limitations, net operating loss deduction limitations, a tax on global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) earned by foreign corporate subsidiaries, a base erosion anti-abuse tax (BEAT), and a deduction for foreign-derived intangible income (FDII).

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At December 31, 2018, we completed the accounting for the enactment-date income tax effects of Tax Reform, which resulted in an immaterial impact to our financial statements. Upon further analyses of certain aspects of Tax Reform, and refinement of calculations during 2018, we increased our provisional amount of previously untaxed foreign earnings by $13.8 million to $88.1 million. This resulted in no change to U.S. federal income tax expense due to the impact of foreign tax credits. In addition, the provisional net tax expense , which was estimated to be approximately $ 0 .1 million , primarily attributable to the reduction in the federal tax rate , was unchanged . In addition, we have made a policy election to account for any impacts of GILTI tax in the period in which it is incurred.  

Our current revolving credit facility with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Capital One, N.A. and Bank of America N.A. contains, and any future loan agreements we may enter into may contain, operating and financial covenants that may restrict our business and financing activities.

We have a $150.0 million revolving credit facility (the Credit Facility) with JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Capital One, N.A. and Bank of America N.A., consisting of a $125.0 million revolving credit facility and a $25.0 million letter of credit sub-facility. As of December 31, 2018, the aggregate outstanding balance under the Credit Facility was $90.4 million. The Credit Facility is secured by substantially all of our assets. In addition, from time to time, we enter into various loan, working capital and accounts receivable financing facilities to finance the construction and ongoing operations of our advanced manufacturing facilities and other capital expenditures. The Credit Facility contains various financial covenants and restrictions on our and our operating subsidiaries’ excess cash flows and ability to make capital expenditures, incur additional indebtedness and pay dividends or make distributions on, or repurchase, our stock. The operating and financial restrictions and covenants of the Credit Facility, as well as our other existing and any future financing agreements that we may enter into, may restrict our ability to finance our operations, engage in business activities or expand or fully pursue our business strategies. Our ability to comply with these covenants may be affected by events beyond our control, and we may not be able to maintain appropriate minimum leverage ratio and fixed charge coverage ratio requirements in the future. A breach of any of these covenants could result in a default under the applicable loan facility, which could cause all of the outstanding indebtedness under such facility to become immediately due and payable by us and/or enable the lender to terminate all commitments to extend further credit. In addition, if we were unable to repay the outstanding indebtedness upon a default, our lenders could proceed against the assets pledged as collateral to secure that indebtedness.

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

Our indebtedness could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition by, among other things:

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In addition, we may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow from our operations to repay our outstanding indebtedness when it becomes due and to meet our other cash needs or to comply with the financial covenants set forth therein. If we are not able to pay our debts as they become due, we could be in default of the Credit Facility or other indebtedness. We might also be required to pursue one or more alternative strategies to repay indebtedness, such as selling assets, refinancing or restructuring our indebtedness or selling additional debt or equity securities. We may not be able to refinance our debt or sell additional debt or equity securities or our assets on favorable terms, if at all, and if we must sell assets, it may negatively affect our ability to generate revenues.

Much of our intellectual property consists of trade secrets and know-how that is very difficult to protect. If we experience loss of protection for our trade secrets or know-how, our business would be substantially harmed.

We have a variety of intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks and copyrights, but much of our most important intellectual property rights consists of trade secrets and know-how and effective intellectual property protection may be unavailable, limited or outside the scope of the intellectual property rights we pursue in the United States and in foreign countries such as China where we operate. Although we strive to protect our intellectual property rights, there is always a risk that our trade secrets or know-how will be compromised or that a competitor could lawfully reverse-engineer our technology or independently develop similar or more efficient technology. We have confidentiality agreements with each of our customers, suppliers, key employees and independent contractors in place to protect our intellectual property rights, but it is possible that a customer, supplier, employee or contractor might breach the agreement, intentionally or unintentionally. For example, we believe a key former employee may have shared some of our intellectual property with a competitor in China and this former employee or the competitor may use this intellectual property to compete with us in the future. It is also possible that our confidentiality agreements with customers, suppliers, employees and contractors will not be effective in preserving the confidential nature of our intellectual property rights. The patents we own could be challenged, invalidated, narrowed or circumvented by others and may not be of sufficient scope or strength to provide us with any meaningful protection or commercial advantage. Once our patents expire, or if they are invalidated, narrowed or circumvented, our competitors may be able to utilize the inventions protected by our patents. Additionally, the existence of our intellectual property rights does not guarantee that we will be successful in any attempt to enforce these rights against third parties in the event of infringement, misappropriation or other misuse, which may materially and adversely affect our business. Because our ability to effectively compete in our industry depends upon our ability to protect our proprietary technology, we might lose business to competitors and our business, revenue, operating results and prospects could be materially harmed if we suffer loss of trade secret and know-how protection or breach of our confidentiality agreements.

If the transfer pricing arrangements we have among our subsidiaries are determined to be inappropriate in one or more jurisdictions, our tax liability may increase.

In many countries, including the United States, we are subject to transfer pricing and other tax regulations designed to ensure that appropriate levels of income are reported as earned in each jurisdiction in which we operate. These regulations require that any international transaction involving associated enterprises be on substantially the same basis as a transaction between unrelated companies dealing at arms’ length and that contemporaneous documentation be maintained to support the transfer prices. We have transfer pricing arrangements among our subsidiaries in relation to various aspects of our business. We consider the transactions among our subsidiaries to be substantially on arm’s-length terms. If, however, a tax authority in any jurisdiction reviews any of our tax returns and determines that the transfer prices and terms we have applied are not appropriate, or that other income of our affiliates should be taxed in that jurisdiction, we may incur increased tax liability, including accrued interest and penalties, which would cause our tax provision to increase, possibly materially. In addition, if the jurisdiction from which the income is reallocated does not agree with the reallocation, both jurisdictions could tax the same income, resulting in double taxation. If tax authorities were to allocate income to a higher tax jurisdiction, subject our income to double taxation, or assess interest and penalties, it would increase our consolidated tax liability, which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

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Our insurance coverage may not cover all risks we face and insurance premiums may increase, which may hinder our ability to maintain sufficient coverage to cover losses we may incur.

We are exposed to risks inherent in the manufacturing of wind blades and other composite structures as well as the construction of our facilities, such as natural disasters, breakdowns and manufacturing defects that could harm persons and damage property. We maintain insurance coverage with licensed insurance carriers that limits our aggregate exposure to certain types of catastrophic losses. In addition, we self-insure for a portion of our claims exposure resulting from workers’ compensation and certain events of general liability. We accrue currently for estimated incurred losses and expenses, and periodically evaluate and adjust our claims accrued liability amount to reflect our experience. However, our insurance coverage may not be sufficient to cover the full amount of potential losses. In addition, there are some types of losses such as from warranty, hurricanes, terrorism, wars, or earthquakes where insurance is limited and/or not economically justifiable. If we were to sustain a serious uninsured loss or a loss exceeding the limits of our insurance policies, the resulting costs could have a material adverse effect on our business prospects, results of operations and financial condition. Further, our insurance policies provide for our premiums to be adjusted annually. If the premiums we pay for our policies increase significantly, we may be unable to maintain the same level of coverage we currently carry, or we will incur significantly greater costs to maintain the same level of coverage, including through higher deductibles.

We may be subject to significant liabilities and costs relating to environmental and health and safety requirements.

We are subject to various environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permit requirements in the jurisdictions in which we operate governing, among other things, health, safety, pollution and protection of the environment and natural resources, the handling and use of hazardous substances, the generation, storage, treatment and disposal of wastes, and the cleanup of any contaminated sites. In June 2018, Iowa OSHA, a division of the Iowa Department of Labor, issued a citation and notification of penalty to us alleging that certain of our workplace practices and conditions at our Newton, Iowa wind blade manufacturing facility had violated the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Act. Specifically, the citation cited us for multiple alleged violations and proposed that we pay an aggregate penalty of $0.2 million. In June 2018, we notified Iowa OSHA that we were contesting all of the alleged violations and proposed penalties. In June 2018, the Labor Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Labor subsequently filed a complaint with the State of Iowa Employment Appeal Board, petitioning the appeal board to affirm the citation and notification of penalty that Iowa OSHA issued to us. In July 2018, we then filed a response with the appeal board denying the substantive allegations of the complaint. A hearing date has been set for June 2019 and the matter remains pending.

We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, capital and operating expenditures to comply with such laws, regulations and permit requirements. While we believe that we currently are in material compliance with all such laws, regulations and permit requirements, any noncompliance may subject us to a range of enforcement measures, including the imposition of monetary fines and penalties, other civil or criminal sanctions, remedial obligations, and the issuance of compliance requirements restricting our operations. In addition, the future adoption of more stringent laws, regulations and permit requirements may require us to make additional capital and operating expenditures. Under certain environmental laws and regulations, liabilities also can be imposed for cleanup of currently and formerly owned, leased or operated properties, or properties to which we sent hazardous substances or wastes, regardless of whether we directly caused the contamination or violated any law. For example, we could have future liability relating to any contamination that remains from historic industrial operations by others at our properties. Additionally, some of our facilities have a long history of industrial operations and, in the past, contaminants have been detected and remediated at one of our facilities in Izmir, Turkey.

There can be no assurance that we will not in the future become subject to compliance requirements, obligations to undertake cleanup or related activities, or claims or proceedings relating to environmental, health or safety matters, hazardous substances or wastes, contaminated sites, or other environmental or natural resource damages, that could impose significant liabilities and costs on us and materially harm our business, operating results or financial condition.

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Claims that we infringe, misappropriate or otherwise misuse the intellectual property rights of others could subject us to significant liability and disrupt our business.

Our competitors and third party suppliers of components and raw materials used in our products protect their intellectual property rights by means such as trade secrets and patents. In the future we may be sued for violations of other parties’ intellectual property rights, and the risk of this type of lawsuit will likely increase as our size, geographic presence and market share expand and as the number of competitors in our market increases. Any such claims or litigation, whether meritorious or not, could:

Any of the foregoing could disrupt our business and materially harm our operating results and financial condition. In addition, intellectual property disputes have in the past arisen between our customers which negatively affected such customers’ demand for wind blades manufactured by us. If such intellectual property disputes involving, or between, one or more of our customers should arise in the future, our business could be materially harmed.

We may form joint ventures, or acquire businesses or assets, in the future, and we may not realize the benefits of those transactions.

We have, in the past, entered into joint ventures with third parties for the manufacture of wind blades. For example, we entered into joint ventures with third parties in both our Mexico and Turkey locations. We may create new or additional joint ventures with third parties, or acquire businesses or assets, in the future that we believe will complement or augment our existing business. We cannot assure you that, following any such joint venture or acquisition, we will achieve the expected synergies to justify the transaction. We may encounter numerous difficulties in manufacturing any new products resulting from a joint venture or acquisition that delay or prevent us from realizing their expected benefits or enhancing our business. If we enter into joint ventures or acquire businesses or assets with respect to promising markets, we may not be able to realize the benefit of those joint ventures or acquired businesses assets if we are unable to successfully integrate them with our existing operations and company culture.

Work disruptions resulting from our collective bargaining agreements could result in increased operating costs and materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Certain of our employees in Turkey and Matamoros, Mexico, which in the aggregate represented approximately 35% of our workforce as of December 31, 2018, are covered by collective bargaining arrangements.  In 2016, we entered into a three-year collective bargaining agreement with certain of our Turkish employees at our first Turkey facility. The agreement resulted in an average increase in pay of approximately 20% for employees covered by the agreement. In addition, beginning in 2017, these collective bargaining arrangements also covered similarly situated employees at our second Turkey facility. In March 2018, we entered into a collective bargaining agreement with a labor union for certain of our employees in our Matamoros, Mexico facility. In January 2019, thousands of workers employed in dozens of manufacturing facilities in Matamoros, Mexico, went on strike. In general, these workers, who were represented by several different labor unions, demanded a twenty percent increase

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in their wage rate and an annual bonus of approximately $1,700. On February 15, 2019, our manufacturing production employees in Matamoros, Mexico, who are represented by a labor union, went on strike also demanding a 20% increase in their hourly wage rate and the payment of an annual bonus of approximately $1,700 even though our collective bargaining agreement does not provide for an annual bonus. During this strike, our Matamoros manufacturing facility stopped production from February 15, 2019 until March 2, 2019. On March 2, 2019, we reached an agreement with the labor union to end the strike and we reopened our Matamoros manufacturing facility on March 3, 2019.

Additionally, our other employees working at other manufacturing facilities may vote to be represented by a labor union in the future. There can be no assurance that we will not experience labor disruptions such as work stoppages or other slowdowns by workers at any of our facilities. Should significant industrial action, threats of strikes or related disturbances occur, we could experience further disruptions of operations and increased labor costs in Turkey, Mexico or other locations, which could materially harm our business, operating results or financial condition. Any such work stoppage or slow-down at any of our facilities could also result in additional expenses and possible loss of revenue for us.

Our information technology infrastructure could experience serious failures or disruptions, the failure of which could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

Information technology is part of our business strategy and operations. It enables us to streamline operation processes, facilitate the collection and reporting of business data, and provide for internal and external communications. There are risks that information technology system failures, network disruptions and breaches of data security could disrupt our operations. Any significant disruption or breach may materially harm our business, operating results or financial condition.

We will incur significant increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to compliance initiatives.

As a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and NASDAQ, impose various requirements on public companies, including requiring establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting and changes in corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect these rules and regulations to make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance. We estimate that we will incur approximately $3.0 million to $4.0 million in expenses annually in response to these requirements.

Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires annual management assessments of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, starting with the second annual report that we file with the SEC. However, as long as we remain an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the JOBS Act), we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We will take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company and will incur additional expense and time related to these efforts at that time. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of $1.07 billion or more; (ii) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the completion of our IPO; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three years; or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under SEC rules.

Our testing, or the subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives, diverting their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, and we may not successfully or efficiently manage our transition into a public company. We may also need to upgrade our financial and operating

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systems, implement additional financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures, and add additional accounting, auditing and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge. We have or will soon have operations in China, Mexico, Turkey and India and may have difficulty hiring and retaining employees in these countries who have the experience necessary to implement the kind of management and financial controls that are expected of a U.S. public company. In this regard, for example, China has only recently begun to adopt management and financial reporting concepts and practices like those in the United States. If we are not able to comply with these requirements in a timely manner or if we or our independent registered public accounting firm identify deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our stock could decline, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by NASDAQ, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.

We are faced with increasingly complex tax issues in many jurisdictions, and we could be obligated to pay additional taxes in various jurisdictions.

We may be subject to taxation in many jurisdictions in the United States and around the world with increasingly complex tax laws, the application of which can be uncertain. The amount of taxes we pay in these jurisdictions could increase substantially as a result of changes in the applicable tax laws, including increased tax rates or revised interpretations of existing tax laws and precedents, which could harm our liquidity and operating results. In addition, the taxing authorities in these jurisdictions could review our tax returns, or authorities in jurisdictions in which we do not file tax returns could assert that we are subject to tax in those jurisdictions, and in either case could impose additional tax, interest and penalties. Further, the authorities could claim that various withholding requirements apply to us or our subsidiaries or assert that benefits of tax treaties are not available to us or our subsidiaries, any of which could have a material adverse impact on us and the results of our operations.

Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock

The price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially and your investment may decline in value.

The market price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile and may fluctuate substantially due to many factors, including:

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In addition, the stock market in general, including NASDAQ, as well as the market for broader energy and renewable energy companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies affected. These broad market and industry factors may materially harm the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. In the past, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against a company following periods of volatility in the market price of that company’s securities. Securities class-action litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs or damages and a diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could materially harm our business and operating results.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares may be sold into the public market in future sales, which could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market can occur at any time. These sales, or the market perception that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. As of December 31, 2018, we had 34,678,084 shares of common stock outstanding. All shares can now be sold, subject to any applicable volume limitations under federal securities laws.

In addition, as of December 31, 2018, there were: (i) 2,600,694 shares subject to outstanding options, or 7.5% of our outstanding shares; (ii) 425,876 restricted stock units, or 1.2% of our outstanding shares; (iii) 249,249 performance stock units, or 0.7% of our outstanding shares; and (iv) 5,980,605 shares reserved for future issuance, or 17.2% of our outstanding shares under the Amended and Restated 2015 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the 2015 Plan) that will become eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by any applicable vesting requirements and Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act. We also filed a shelf registration statement in September 2017 for the resale of up to 19,774,751 shares of common stock by certain of our common stockholders. We also have registered all shares of common stock that we may issue under our employee equity incentive plans. These shares can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and subject to the restrictions imposed on our affiliates under Rule 144.

In the future, we may also issue our securities in connection with investments or acquisitions. The amount of shares of our common stock issued in connection with an investment or acquisition could constitute a material portion of our then-outstanding shares of our common stock. Any issuance of additional securities in connection with investments or acquisitions may result in additional dilution to you and may cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly.

The exercise of options and warrants and other issuances of shares of common stock or securities convertible into common stock under our equity compensation plans will dilute your interest.

Under our existing equity compensation plans, as of December 31, 2018, we had outstanding options to purchase 2,600,694 shares of our common stock, 425,876 restricted stock units and 249,249 performance stock units to our employees and non-employee directors. From time to time, we expect to grant additional options and other stock awards in accordance with the 2015 Plan. The exercise of options and warrants at prices below the market price of our common stock could adversely affect the price of shares of our common stock. Additionally, any issuance of our common stock that is not made solely to then-existing stockholders proportionate to their interests, such as in the case of a stock dividend or stock split, will result in dilution to each stockholder by reducing their percentage ownership of the total outstanding shares. If we issue options or warrants to purchase our common stock in the future and those options or warrants are exercised or we issue stock, stockholders may experience further dilution.

Our executive officers, directors and their affiliated entities may be able to exercise substantial control over us and could limit the ability of other stockholders to influence the outcome of key transactions, including changes of control.

Our executive officers, directors and their affiliated entities, in the aggregate, beneficially own approximately 24% of the outstanding common stock, based on 34,914,385 shares of common stock outstanding as of January 31, 2019. Our executive officers, directors and their affiliated entities, if acting together, may be able to control or significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors and the

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approval of mergers or other significant corporate transactions. The concentration of common stock ownership could have the effect of delaying, preventing, or deterring a change of control of our company, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of a sale of our company, and could negatively affect the market price of the common stock.

If equity research analysts issue unfavorable commentary or downgrade our common stock, the price of our common stock could decline.

The trading market for our common stock relies in part on the research and reports that equity research analysts publish about us and our business. We do not control the work performed by these analysts. The demand for our common stock could decline if one or more equity analysts downgrade our stock or if those analysts issue unfavorable or inaccurate commentary. If such analysts cease publishing reports about us or our business, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause our share price and trading volume to decline.

We do not currently intend to pay dividends on the common stock, which may hinder your ability to achieve a return on your investment.

We have never declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock. The continued operation and expansion of our business will require substantial funding and thus we currently intend to retain any future earnings and do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. Accordingly, you are not likely to receive any dividends on common stock in the foreseeable future, and your ability to achieve a return on your investment will therefore depend on appreciation in the price of the common stock.

Provisions of Delaware law or our charter documents could delay or prevent an acquisition of our company, even if the acquisition would be beneficial to our stockholders, and could make it more difficult for you to change management.

Provisions of Delaware law and our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated by-laws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. These provisions may also prevent or delay attempts by stockholders to replace or remove our current management or members of our board of directors. These provisions include:

The affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of our shares of capital stock entitled to vote, and not less than 75% of the outstanding shares of each class entitled to vote thereon as a class, is necessary to amend or repeal the above provisions that are contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. In addition, absent approval of our board of directors, our amended and restated by-laws may only be amended or repealed by the affirmative vote of the holders of at least 75% of our shares of capital stock entitled to vote.

In addition, we are subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which limits business combination transactions with stockholders of 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock that our board of directors has not approved. These provisions and other similar provisions make it more difficult for stockholders or potential acquirers to acquire us without negotiation. These provisions may apply even if some stockholders may consider the transaction beneficial to them.

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As a result, these provisions could limit the price that investors are willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. These provisions might also discourage a potential acquisition proposal or tender offer, even if the acquisition proposal or tender offer is at a premium over the then current market price for our common stock.

We are an “emerging growth company” and will be able to avail ourselves of reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies, which could make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If they do, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile. We may take advantage of these reporting exemptions until we are no longer an emerging growth company. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of $1.07 billion or more; (ii) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the completion of our IPO; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three years; or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the rules of the SEC.

Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies can also delay adopting new or revised accounting standards until such time as those standards apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we are subject to the same new or revised accounting standards as other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

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