第一太陽能 (FSLR) 2020 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to First Solar's Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. This call is being webcast live on the Investors section of First Solar's website at investor.firstsolar.com. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.

大家下午好，歡迎參加 First Solar 2020 年第二季度財報電話會議。此次電話會議正在 First Solar 網站investor.firstsolar.com 的投資者部分進行網絡直播。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，今天的通話正在錄音中。

I would now like to turn the call over to Mitch Ennis from First Solar Investor Relations. Mr. Ennis, you may begin.

我現在想將電話轉給 First Solar 投資者關係部的 Mitch Ennis。恩尼斯先生，你可以開始了。

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today, the company issued a press release announcing its second quarter 2020 financial results. A copy of the press release and associated presentation are available on First Solar's website at investor.firstsolar.com. With me today are Mark Widmar, Chief Executive Officer; and Alex Bradley, Chief Financial Officer. Mark will begin by providing a business technology update. Alex will then discuss our financial results for the quarter as well as our outlook for 2020. Following the remarks, we will open the call for questions.

謝謝你。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。今天，該公司發布了一份新聞稿，宣布了其 2020 年第二季度的財務業績。新聞稿和相關演示文稿的副本可在 First Solar 的網站investor.firstsolar.com 上獲得。今天和我在一起的是首席執行官 Mark Widmar；和首席財務官亞歷克斯布拉德利。 Mark 將首先提供業務技術更新。然後，亞歷克斯將討論我們本季度的財務業績以及我們對 2020 年的展望。在發言之後，我們將開始提問。

Please note this call will include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations, including, among other risks and uncertainties, the severity and duration of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage you to review the safe harbor statements contained in today's press release and presentation for a more complete description.

請注意，本次電話會議將包括涉及風險和不確定性的前瞻性陳述，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果與管理層當前的預期存在重大差異，其中包括 COVID-19 大流行影響的嚴重性和持續時間等風險和不確定性。我們鼓勵您查看今天的新聞稿和演示文稿中包含的安全港聲明，以獲得更完整的描述。

It is now my pleasure to introduce Mark Widmar, Chief Executive Officer. Mark?

現在我很高興介紹首席執行官 Mark Widmar。標記？

Thank you, Mitch. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. We continue to hope each of you are managing well as the pandemic continues. As we emphasized during our May earnings call, our COVID-19 response centers on balancing our top priority of safety with meeting our commitments to our customers.

謝謝你，米奇。下午好，感謝您今天加入我們。隨著大流行的繼續，我們仍然希望你們每個人都管理得很好。正如我們在 5 月份的財報電話會議中所強調的那樣，我們的 COVID-19 響應中心是平衡我們的安全重中之重與履行我們對客戶的承諾。

This approach, together with our associates dedication and the strength of our differentiated business model enabled us to deliver solid financial results for the second quarter and year-to-date, with earnings of $0.35 per share and $1.20 per share, respectively. Alex will discuss our results in greater detail. Starting on Slide 3 with our module business. We remain pleased with our operational performance, with strong metrics across the board. Year-to-date, we have produced 3.5 gigawatts, including 3.3 gigawatts of Series 6 modules. Fleet-wide capacity utilization has remained over 100% for the month of May, June and July. The fleet-wide capacity utilization is led by our international factories in Vietnam and Malaysia, which are progressing towards their previously demonstrated capacity utilization peak of 120% of initial design nameplate.

這種方法，加上我們員工的奉獻精神和我們差異化業務模式的優勢，使我們能夠在第二季度和年初至今實現穩健的財務業績，每股收益分別為 0.35 美元和 1.20 美元。 Alex 將更詳細地討論我們的結果。從幻燈片 3 開始，我們的模塊業務。我們仍然對我們的運營業績感到滿意，並擁有全面的強大指標。年初至今，我們已經生產了 3.5 吉瓦，包括 3.3 吉瓦的系列 6 模塊。 5 月、6 月和 7 月全機隊的產能利用率保持在 100% 以上。整個車隊的產能利用率由我們在越南和馬來西亞的國際工廠領導，這些工廠正在朝著之前證明的初始設計銘牌的 120% 的產能利用率峰值邁進。

Domestically, our Ohio 1 and 2 factories experienced 2.5 days of idle production in June, but still achieved respective utilization rates of over 100% and 94% during June. The unplanned downtime was caused by railway logistics constraints, which resulted in a delivery delay of certain bill of materials supply.

在國內，我們的俄亥俄 1 和 2 工廠在 6 月份經歷了 2.5 天的閒置生產，但在 6 月份仍分別實現了超過 100% 和 94% 的利用率。計劃外停機是由於鐵路物流限製造成的，導致某些物料清單供應的交付延遲。

As a result, we accelerated previously planned factory upgrades from the third quarter to minimize any impact to our full year production plan. On a fleet-wide basis, in July, megawatts produced per day was 15.9 megawatts. Manufacturing yield was 96.4%. Average watts per module was 435 watts, and the ARC bin distribution from 430 to 440 modules was 98%.

因此，我們從第三季度開始加快了先前計劃的工廠升級，以盡量減少對我們全年生產計劃的影響。在整個車隊的基礎上，7 月份，每天產生的兆瓦數為 15.9 兆瓦。製造良率為96.4%。每個模塊的平均瓦特為 435 瓦，從 430 到 440 模塊的 ARC bin 分佈為 98%。

Vietnam had a particularly strong start to the quarter, with capacity utilization of 114% and manufacturing yield 100 basis points above the fleet average.

越南在本季度的開局特別強勁，產能利用率為 114%，製造產量比機隊平均水平高 100 個基點。

We are encouraged by the operational start to the quarter and the momentum it provides to further improve our cost per watt.

我們對本季度的運營開始以及它為進一步提高我們的每瓦成本提供的動力感到鼓舞。

Regarding our capacity road map. We remain on track to commence commercial production at our second Series 6 factory in Malaysia in the first quarter of 2021.

關於我們的產能路線圖。我們仍有望在 2021 年第一季度在馬來西亞的第二家 Series 6 工廠開始商業生產。

However, third-party equipment installers as well as our U.S.-based associates are subject to international travel restrictions as a result of COVID-19.

但是，第三方設備安裝商以及我們在美國的員工因 COVID-19 而受到國際旅行限制。

While we continue to work with relevant agencies to support this essential travel in a safe manner, incremental delays resulting from these restrictions may impact the timing of initial production.

雖然我們繼續與相關機構合作，以安全的方式支持這一重要旅行，但由於這些限制導致的增量延誤可能會影響初始生產的時間。

Since the previous earnings call, we have not experienced any significant operational disruption from our suppliers inability to maintain manufacturing operations.

自上次財報電話會議以來，我們沒有因供應商無法維持製造運營而遭受任何重大運營中斷。

Much of our ability to mitigate this impact to date stems from our supply chain strategy, which emphasizes corporate and geographic diversity of supply.

迄今為止，我們減輕這種影響的大部分能力源於我們的供應鏈戰略，該戰略強調企業和地域供應的多樣性。

In certain situations, where we source critical raw materials from a single vendor, we ensure the product can be manufactured in multiple geographies.

在某些情況下，我們從單一供應商處採購關鍵原材料，我們確保產品可以在多個地區生產。

From a shipping and logistics perspective, the most significant impact to date is the consolidation of shipping routes, which has resulted in constrained capacity.

從航運和物流的角度來看，迄今為止最顯著的影響是航線的整合，這導致了運力受限。

We have factored this into our logistics strategy and are working to mitigate these impacts.

我們已將此納入我們的物流戰略，並正在努力減輕這些影響。

Separately, port congestion has recently improved in Europe and the United States, although we continue to monitor this risk.

另外，歐洲和美國的港口擁堵最近有所改善，儘管我們繼續監測這種風險。

Turning to our systems business on Slide 4. Our EPS results were favorably impacted by the successful sale of our 123-megawatt American Kings project.

在幻燈片 4 上轉向我們的系統業務。我們的 123 兆瓦 American Kings 項目的成功出售對我們的每股收益結果產生了有利影響。

We are pleased with this result, capturing competitive market value for this project, despite capital market dislocation.

儘管資本市場錯位，我們對這一結果感到滿意，為該項目獲得了具有競爭力的市場價值。

From an EPC perspective, in July, we declared substantial completion on the last remaining project being constructed by First Solar EPC.

從 EPC 的角度來看，7 月，我們宣布 First Solar EPC 正在建設的最後一個剩餘項目基本完成。

This project has experienced a combination of unforeseen weather and COVID-19-related delays and incurred significant additional costs during the quarter, which then first, unfortunately, weighed on our Q2 results.

該項目經歷了不可預見的天氣和與 COVID-19 相關的延誤，並在本季度產生了大量額外成本，不幸的是，這首先影響了我們的第二季度業績。

Alex will later discuss the P&L impact as well as provide an update on the capital markets for system projects.

亞歷克斯稍後將討論損益影響，並提供系統項目資本市場的最新信息。

With regards to our U.S. project development business, as discussed on our Q1 earnings call, the COVID-19 had affected the timing of our evaluation of strategic options for the business.

關於我們的美國項目開發業務，正如我們在第一季度財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，COVID-19 影響了我們評估業務戰略選擇的時機。

In June, however, in collaboration with our financial advisers, we made the determination that the market is now in a better position to evaluate potential partnerships, sales or other transactions.

然而，在 6 月，我們與我們的財務顧問合作，確定市場現在能夠更好地評估潛在的合作夥伴關係、銷售或其他交易。

Accordingly, in June, we formally launched this process. We do not intend to discuss further developments, except to the extent the process is concluded or is otherwise deemed appropriate.

因此，我們在 6 月正式啟動了這一進程。我們不打算討論進一步的發展，除非該過程已經結束或被認為合適。

With regards to our O&M business, during the third quarter of 2019 earnings call, we indicated that we are evaluating the long-term cost structure, competitiveness and risk-adjusted returns of the business.

關於我們的運維業務，在 2019 年第三季度的財報電話會議上，我們表示我們正在評估該業務的長期成本結構、競爭力和風險調整後的回報。

In addition, during our fourth quarter 2019 earnings call in February 2020, we discussed that we were continuing to evaluate our O&M strategy to ensure that this business is able to achieve its full enterprise value potential and continued market leadership.

此外，在 2020 年 2 月的 2019 年第四季度財報電話會議上，我們討論了我們正在繼續評估我們的運維戰略，以確保該業務能夠充分發揮其企業價值潛力並繼續保持市場領先地位。

Our original entrance into and continued presence in the O&M market was a natural extension of our utility-scale solar development and EPC capabilities.

我們最初進入並繼續存在於 O&M 市場是我們公用事業規模太陽能開發和 EPC 能力的自然延伸。

It helped create a vertically integrated systems platform, which allowed us to capture an additional profit pool.

它幫助創建了一個垂直集成的系統平台，使我們能夠獲得額外的利潤池。

However, with our transition to a third-party EPC execution model, the increase in the maturity of the U.S. Solar O&M market and our evaluation of strategic opportunities for our U.S. project development business, the strategic thesis behind our O&M business has changed.

然而，隨著我們向第三方 EPC 執行模式的轉變、美國太陽能運維市場成熟度的提高以及我們對美國項目開發業務戰略機遇的評估，我們的運維業務背後的戰略主題發生了變化。

From a financial perspective, as we indicated during our December 2017 Analyst Day, our contracted O&M gross margin at the time was above 30%, largely as a function of legacy contracts.

從財務角度來看，正如我們在 2017 年 12 月的分析師日所指出的那樣，我們當時的合同運維毛利率超過 30%，主要是由於舊合同的影響。

We also indicated that as we expect the gross margin for new O&M business to decline to a range of 10% to 30%, depending on the risk profile and the contract tenure.

我們還表示，由於我們預計新運維業務的毛利率將下降至 10% 至 30% 的範圍，具體取決於風險狀況和合同期限。

Relative to this expectation, with increased competitive pressure and declining PPA prices, we have seen new contracts trend towards the lower end of this range.

相對於這一預期，隨著競爭壓力的增加和 PPA 價格的下降，我們看到新合同趨向於該範圍的低端。

While we have been able to partially offset the impact of this gross margin percentage decline by increasing the scale of our O&M portfolio in order to further optimize the business and maintain our market-leading position, we would need to continue increasing the business scale as well as enhancing the range of O&M product and service offerings.

雖然我們已經能夠通過增加我們的運維組合規模來部分抵消毛利率下降的影響，以進一步優化業務並保持我們的市場領先地位，但我們還需要繼續擴大業務規模以擴大運維產品和服務的範圍。

To justify incremental capital investment in O&M, the financial returns would need to exceed those available from further investment in our module business.

為了證明對 O&M 的增量資本投資是合理的，財務回報需要超過對我們模塊業務的進一步投資所獲得的回報。

Earlier this year, we received a compelling unsolicited offer to acquire our North American O&M business from NovaSource Power Services, a portfolio company of Clairvest Group, a strategic investor who is scaling a market-leading solar O&M platform following their recent acquisition of Sun Power's utility-scale O&M business.

今年早些時候，我們收到了令人信服的主動報價，要從 NovaSource Power Services 收購我們的北美 O&M 業務，這是 Clairvest Group 的投資組合公司，Clairvest Group 是一家戰略投資者，在最近收購 Sun Power 的公用事業公司後正在擴展市場領先的太陽能 O&M 平台-規模運維業務。

We believe their strategy for scaling and growing the business will enable the O&M enterprise to reach its full potential.

我們相信他們擴大和發展業務的戰略將使運維企業充分發揮其潛力。

Accordingly, this week, we signed an agreement to sell our North American O&M business. We believe this transaction captures compelling value, will maintain our history of high-quality customer service and with additional scale and capital will further enhance the capabilities of the business.

因此，本週，我們簽署了一項出售北美 O&M 業務的協議。我們相信，這項交易將獲得令人信服的價值，將保持我們高質量客戶服務的歷史，並通過額外的規模和資本進一步增強業務能力。

Upon closing of this transaction, which is expected by year-end, approximately 220 First Solar O&M associates are expected to join NovaSource Solar O&M platform.

本次交易預計在年底完成，預計約有 220 名 First Solar 運維聯營公司將加入 NovaSource 太陽能運維平台。

Turning to Slide 5. I would like to highlight our bookings and shipment activity for the quarter.

轉到幻燈片 5。我想強調一下我們本季度的預訂和發貨活動。

In this challenging economic environment, demand for our Series 6 product remains strong.

在這個充滿挑戰的經濟環境中，對我們 6 系列產品的需求依然強勁。

Since the prior earnings call, our net bookings are 0.8 gigawatts. These new bookings include approximately 0.3 gigawatts of third-party module sales and 0.5 gigawatts of systems bookings.

自上次財報電話會議以來，我們的淨預訂量為 0.8 吉瓦。這些新的預訂包括大約 0.3 吉瓦的第三方模塊銷售和 0.5 吉瓦的系統預訂。

In addition, 0.4 gigawatts of these bookings are for delivery in 2022.

此外，這些預訂中的 0.4 吉瓦將在 2022 年交付。

Despite our success in booking these additional volumes in the U.S., we believe the current uncertainty of tax equity availability for projects scheduled for completion in 2021 and beyond as well as the uncertain status of the legislature solution, such as the ability to receive direct cash payments in place of direct investment tax credits to alleviate this tax equity availability constraint is a headwind impacting our ability to book certain opportunities in late-stage negotiations.

儘管我們在美國成功預訂了這些額外的數量，但我們認為目前計劃在 2021 年及以後完成的項目的稅收公平性的不確定性以及立法解決方案的不確定狀態，例如接收直接現金支付的能力代替直接投資稅收抵免以緩解這種稅收股權可用性限制是一個不利因素，影響了我們在後期談判中預訂某些機會的能力。

We currently have approximate 0.9 gigawatts of opportunities in late-stage negotiation with terms, pricing and conditions near final agreement.

目前，我們在條款、定價和條件接近最終協議的後期談判中擁有大約 0.9 吉瓦的機會。

We believe the current uncertain tax equity environment has contributed to the delays in finalizing these negotiations and accordingly has delayed our ability to book these volumes.

我們認為，當前不確定的稅收公平環境導致了這些談判的最終確定延遲，因此延遲了我們預訂這些數量的能力。

Note, although not booked, these volumes are reflected in our late-stage opportunity pipeline.

請注意，雖然沒有預訂，但這些數量反映在我們的後期機會管道中。

Strong Series 6 demand, coupled with First Solar strength as a trusted partner underlines our current bookings and late-stage opportunities, which, when combined, totaled 1.7 gigawatts.

Series 6 的強勁需求，加上 First Solar 作為值得信賴的合作夥伴的實力，突顯了我們當前的預訂和後期機會，這些訂單合計為 1.7 吉瓦。

During the second quarter, we shipped 1.2 gigawatts, which was approximately 300 megawatts below our expectations.

在第二季度，我們出貨了 1.2 吉瓦，比我們的預期低了大約 300 兆瓦。

Delays in shipments were due to a combination of previously mentioned port congestion, project site labor constraints and interconnection and financing delays.

發貨延遲是由於前面提到的港口擁堵、項目現場勞動力限制以及互連和融資延遲的綜合影響。

After accounting for second quarter shipments, our contracted backlog remained strong with future expected shipments of 11.9 gigawatts.

考慮到第二季度的出貨量後，我們的合同積壓依然強勁，未來預計出貨量為 11.9 吉瓦。

Our ability to forward contract module supply creates a position of strength, which enables pricing discipline and helps to mitigate the financial impact of variable spot pricing for solar modules.

我們遠期合同組件供應的能力創造了一個優勢地位，這可以實現定價紀律，並有助於減輕太陽能組件可變現貨定價的財務影響。

We remain effectively sold out through 2020, with only 2 gigawatts left to sell of our expected 2021 supply, with a 21 mid- to late-stage pipeline of 3.8 gigawatts, which includes the previously mentioned 0.9 gigawatts in late-stage negotiations, we have a path to fully contract our 2021 supply plan over the next few quarters.

到 2020 年，我們仍然有效地售罄，我們預計 2021 年的供應量僅剩 2 吉瓦可供出售，還有 21 條 3.8 吉瓦的中後期管道，其中包括前面提到的後期談判中的 0.9 吉瓦，我們有在接下來的幾個季度中完全收縮我們的 2021 年供應計劃的途徑。

With regards to our systems booking in July, we were awarded 2 PPAs for projects located in Ohio and North Carolina that support the clean energy needs of a Fortune 500 company starting in 2023.

關於我們在 7 月份的系統預訂，我們為位於俄亥俄州和北卡羅來納州的項目獲得了 2 個 PPA，這些項目從 2023 年開始支持財富 500 強公司的清潔能源需求。

Separately, the building of the recent PPA we signed with Dow prior to the first quarter earnings call, we continue to see strong demand from corporate customers who are becoming increasingly proactive in reducing their carbon footprints. As America's solar company, we're proud to support the renewable energy objectives of corporations with our Series 6 technology, which has the lowest carbon and water footprints available in the market today.

另外，在第一季度財報電話會議之前，我們與陶氏簽署了最近的 PPA，我們繼續看到企業客戶的強勁需求，他們越來越主動地減少碳足跡。作為美國的太陽能公司，我們很自豪能夠使用我們的 6 系列技術支持企業的可再生能源目標，該技術具有當今市場上最低的碳和水足跡。

As a reflection of this sustainability leadership, we are pleased to announce earlier today our commitment to the RE100 initiative, joining the likes of Apple, Facebook, Kellogg and Microsoft, all customers of clean energy generated by First Solar technology. In joining this initiative, we are targeting powering all of our U.S. operations with 100% renewable energy by 2026, and our global operations by 2028. As shown on Slide 6, our mid- to late-stage pipeline of opportunities remains robust. And has increased by 0.3 gigawatts despite bookings of 0.8 gigawatts since the prior earnings call.

作為這種可持續發展領導力的體現，我們很高興今天早些時候宣布我們對 RE100 計劃的承諾，加入 Apple、Facebook、Kellogg 和 Microsoft 等公司，這些客戶都是 First Solar 技術產生的清潔能源的客戶。在加入這一倡議時，我們的目標是到 2026 年為我們所有的美國業務提供 100% 的可再生能源，到 2028 年為我們的全球業務提供動力。如幻燈片 6 所示，我們的中後期機會管道仍然強勁。儘管自上次財報電話會議以來的預訂量為 0.8 吉瓦，但仍增加了 0.3 吉瓦。

In terms of segment mix, this opportunity pipeline of 7.8 gigawatts includes approximately 7.3 gigawatts of potential module sales, with the remaining represent potential systems business opportunities. In terms of geographical breakdown, North America remains the region with the largest number of opportunities at 5.9 gigawatts, Europe represents 1.7 gigawatts and the remainder in Asia Pacific.

在細分市場組合方面，這個 7.8 吉瓦的機會管道包括大約 7.3 吉瓦的潛在模塊銷售，其餘代表潛在的系統業務機會。就地理分佈而言，北美仍然是機會最多的地區，為 5.9 吉瓦，歐洲為 1.7 吉瓦，其餘位於亞太地區。

As a reminder, our mid- to late-stage pipeline reflects those opportunities the each sales could book within the next 12 months and is a subset of a much larger pipeline of opportunities, which totaled 15 gigawatts of opportunities in 2022 and beyond. Turning to Slide 7. I would like to provide an update manufacturing, cost and technology outlook. Overall, I'm very pleased with our manufacturing execution, especially in light of the current environment.

提醒一下，我們的中後期管道反映了每個銷售人員在未來 12 個月內可以預訂的機會，並且是更大的機會管道的一個子集，在 2022 年及以後總共有 15 吉瓦的機會。轉到幻燈片 7。我想提供最新的製造、成本和技術展望。總的來說，我對我們的製造執行非常滿意，尤其是在當前環境下。

Much of our ability to thus far mitigate the operational impact of COVID-19 stems from our proprietary manufacturing technology which enabled us to produce a cad tel module within a single factory in a matter of hours.

迄今為止，我們減輕 COVID-19 對運營影響的能力很大程度上源於我們專有的製造技術，該技術使我們能夠在幾小時內在一家工廠內生產出 cad tel 模塊。

Our fully integrated manufacturing process is a competitive advantage relative to crystalline silicon technology, which is manufactured over the course of several days across multiple sites.

相對於晶體矽技術，我們完全集成的製造工藝具有競爭優勢，晶體矽技術是在幾天內跨多個站點製造的。

While we have largely mitigated supply chain disruptions to date, the impact of the pandemic experienced in other industries underscores the importance of supply chain diversity.

儘管迄今為止我們在很大程度上緩解了供應鏈中斷，但其他行業經歷的大流行的影響凸顯了供應鏈多樣性的重要性。

As the only U.S.-based company and only alternative to crystalline silicon technology, among the 10 largest solar module manufacturers globally, First Solar provides a domestic supply security and enables United States and global markets to ensure -- to reduce their overreliance on imported and government subsidized panels from China. As we look to the future, we believe a differentiated technology and advantaged cost structure and a balanced perspective on growth will enable us to continue succeeding in the global marketplace.

作為全球 10 大太陽能組件製造商中唯一一家總部位於美國的公司和唯一的晶體矽技術替代品，First Solar 提供國內供應保障，並使美國和全球市場能夠確保——減少對進口和政府的過度依賴來自中國的補貼面板。展望未來，我們相信差異化的技術和優勢的成本結構以及平衡的增長視角將使我們能夠繼續在全球市場上取得成功。

By the end of 2021, we expect to have 8 gigawatts of Series 6 nameplate capacity across factories in the United States, Malaysia and Vietnam. Note, this capacity is over 120% higher than the original nameplate envisioned when we launched Series 6. As we evaluate the potential for future capacity expansions, we may seek to further diversify our manufacturing presence, although we have made no decisions at this time.

到 2021 年底，我們預計美國、馬來西亞和越南的工廠將擁有 8 吉瓦的 6 系列銘牌產能。請注意，該產能比我們推出系列 6 時的原始銘牌設想高出 120% 以上。在我們評估未來產能擴張的潛力時，我們可能會尋求進一步多元化我們的製造業務，儘管我們目前尚未做出任何決定。

Several factors in this evaluation include: firstly, geographic proximity to solar demand where First Solar has an energy or competitive advantage and which could mitigate freight-related costs; secondly, the ability to export cost competitively to other markets. Thirdly, cost-competitive labor, low energy cost and low real estate cost. And finally, a cost-competitive supply chain to support the sourcing of raw materials and components.

該評估中的幾個因素包括：首先，First Solar 具有能源或競爭優勢並且可以降低與貨運相關的成本的地理位置靠近太陽能需求；其次，有競爭力地向其他市場出口成本的能力。第三，具有成本競爭力的勞動力、低能源成本和低房地產成本。最後，一個具有成本競爭力的供應鏈來支持原材料和組件的採購。

From a cost perspective, we previously indicated during our December 2017 Analyst Day that we expect to reduce our 2020 lead line cost per watt by 40% relative to the Series 4 2016 cost per watt. We have achieved this target at our Vietnam manufacturing sites and on track to do so in Malaysia by the end of the year.

從成本的角度來看，我們之前在 2017 年 12 月的分析師日期間表示，我們預計 2020 年的每瓦鉛線成本相對於 2016 年第 4 系列每瓦成本降低 40%。我們在越南的生產基地已經實現了這一目標，並有望在今年年底前在馬來西亞實現這一目標。

Our Series 6 factory in Vietnam, which to date has been largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, are a strong leading indicator for the full potential of the entire manufacturing fleet.

我們在越南的 6 系列工廠迄今為止基本上未受到 COVID-19 大流行的影響，是整個製造機隊全部潛力的強大領先指標。

Secondly, we indicated that despite an increase in the proportion of module volume coming from our higher-cost Ohio factories relative to where we ended up in 2019, we expect our fleet-wide cost per watt to decline approximately 10% over the year.

其次，我們表示，儘管來自成本較高的俄亥俄州工廠的組件數量比例相對於我們在 2019 年的最終目標有所增加，但我們預計我們的全機隊每瓦成本將在一年內下降約 10%。

Despite the unforeseen challenges posed by the pandemic, we remain on track to achieve this objective. We continue to believe there is significant headroom and further enhance our competitiveness in our Series 6 technology, and we relentlessly challenge ourselves on commercializing the next-generation of disruptive thin film technology.

儘管大流行帶來了不可預見的挑戰，但我們仍有望實現這一目標。我們仍然相信在我們的 6 系列技術方面存在巨大的空間並進一步增強我們的競爭力，並且我們在將下一代顛覆性薄膜技術商業化方面不斷挑戰自己。

Simply put, we continually strive to accelerate our pace of innovation in pursuit of our near- and mid-term technology objectives.

簡而言之，我們不斷努力加快創新步伐，以實現我們的近期和中期技術目標。

In the near term, we are focused on successfully implementing our copper replacement program in our lead line during the second half of 2021 and fleet-wide during 2022.

在短期內，我們專注於在 2021 年下半年和 2022 年在我們的鉛生產線上成功實施我們的銅替代計劃，並在整個船隊範圍內實施。

This implementation is expected to further increase the Series 6 energy advantage due to increased wattage, significantly reduce long-term degradation and improve temperature coefficient.

由於增加了瓦數，預計該實施將進一步增加 Series 6 的能源優勢，顯著減少長期退化並提高溫度係數。

Each of these improvements is expected to create value for our customers, which will facilitate Series 6 bookings in 2022 and 2023, with the module bins increasing from 460 watts to 480 watts over this period.

預計這些改進中的每一項都將為我們的客戶創造價值，這將促進 2022 年和 2023 年的系列 6 預訂，在此期間模塊箱從 460 瓦增加到 480 瓦。

Of note, in July, we produced the first copper replaced Series 6 modules which will be utilized to initial -- for initial preliminary testing and validation.

值得注意的是，在 7 月，我們生產了第一個銅替代的 6 系列模塊，將用於初始測試和驗證。

While we remain largely on track for our implementation, COVID-19 and technical challenges remain as a risk to the project completion time line. In the mid-term, we remain focused on achieving our goal of a 500-watt module which is at a standard test condition glass area efficiency of 20.8%.

雖然我們在很大程度上仍按計劃實施，但 COVID-19 和技術挑戰仍然是項目完成時間線的風險。在中期，我們將繼續專注於實現 500 瓦模塊的目標，該模塊在標準測試條件下的玻璃面積效率為 20.8%。

This technology enhancement will further increase the customer value proposition and cost competitiveness of Series 6.

這項技術改進將進一步提高 Series 6 的客戶價值主張和成本競爭力。

It is important to note unlike recently announced increases in crystalline silicon wattage made possible through module size increases. The planned Series 6 wattage increase is expected to be driven by a 15% increase in energy density without changing our module form factor.

值得注意的是，與最近宣布的晶體矽瓦數的增加不同，是通過增加模塊尺寸來實現的。計劃中的 Series 6 功率增加預計將由 15% 的能量密度增加驅動，而不會改變我們的模塊外形尺寸。

In other words, we do not see increasing our customers balance the system or design costs in order to achieve the 500-watt goal. Additionally, the benefits of improved temperature coefficient and significantly reduced long-term degradation, coupled with our continued spectral response advantage, will amplify the benefits of increased energy density, and are expected to increase life cycle energy beyond 15% without adding cost to the module device. As shown on Slide 8, in support of our near-, mid- and long-term goals, we have recently announced a series of changes in our technology and manufacturing senior leadership. Firstly, Markus Gloeckler has been appointed Co-Chief Technology Officer, alongside Raffi Garabedian, our CTO, since 2012 and will join First Solar's executive leadership team.

換句話說，我們沒有看到增加我們的客戶平衡系統或設計成本以實現 500 瓦的目標。此外，提高溫度係數和顯著減少長期退化的好處，再加上我們持續的光譜響應優勢，將放大提高能量密度的好處，並有望在不增加模塊成本的情況下將生命週期能量提高 15% 以上設備。如幻燈片 8 所示，為了支持我們的近期、中期和長期目標，我們最近宣布了我們技術和製造高級領導層的一系列變化。首先，自 2012 年起，Markus Gloeckler 與我們的首席技術官 Raffi Garabedian 一起被任命為聯席首席技術官，並將加入 First Solar 的執行領導團隊。

Markus will drive our Series 6 platform, device and efficiency improvement road map. This will enable Raffi to focus on advanced research and development to create the next disruptive cad tel technology beyond Series 6.

Markus 將推動我們的 Series 6 平台、設備和效率改進路線圖。這將使 Raffi 能夠專注於先進的研發，以創造超越 Series 6 的下一個顛覆性 cad tel 技術。

A particular area of focus will be to evaluate moving beyond a single junction device and leverage the high-band gap advantage of cad tel into a multi-junction device.

一個特定的重點領域將是評估超越單結器件並將 cad tel 的高帶隙優勢應用到多結器件中。

The objective would be to create a market-leading high-efficiency technology that remains energy advantage.

目標是創造一種市場領先的高效技術，並保持能源優勢。

Secondly, as recently announced, Tymen deJong, our Chief Operating Officer, has decided to retire effective April 2021. Tymen has played an essential role in establishing the company's international Series 6 module manufacturing footprint with 5 announced factories currently in production and a 6 on track to commence production during the first quarter of 2021.

其次，正如最近宣布的那樣，我們的首席運營官 Tymen deJong 已決定於 2021 年 4 月退休。Tymen 在建立公司的國際系列 6 模塊製造足跡方面發揮了重要作用，其中 5 家宣布的工廠目前正在生產中，6 家在軌道上將於 2021 年第一季度開始生產。

I'm appreciative of Tymen's invaluable leadership and his many significant contributions to First Solar over the years. Tymen will continue to serve as COO during his 8-month transition period overseeing certain priority projects.

我很感激 Tymen 的寶貴領導以及他多年來對 First Solar 的許多重大貢獻。 Tymen 將在 8 個月的過渡期內繼續擔任首席運營官，負責監督某些優先項目。

In addition, during this transition, Tymen will transfer the majority of his responsibilities to Mike Koralewski, Chief Manufacturing Officer; Kuntal Kumar Verma, Chief Manufacturing Engineering Officer; and Pat Buehler, Chief Quality and Reliability Officer, each of whom will join First Solar's executive leadership team.

此外，在此次交接期間，Tymen 將把他的大部分職責移交給首席製造官 Mike Koralewski； Kuntal Kumar Verma，首席製造工程官； Pat Buehler，首席質量和可靠性官，他們每個人都將加入 First Solar 的執行領導團隊。

We believe the addition of Markus, Mike, Kuntal and Pat to the executive leadership team will enhance our manufacturing, technical and commercial capabilities and set the company up for continued growth.

我們相信 Markus、Mike、Kuntal 和 Pat 加入執行領導團隊將增強我們的製造、技術和商業能力，並使公司為持續增長做好準備。

I'll now turn the call over to Alex, who will discuss our second quarter financial results and outlook for 2020.

我現在將電話轉給亞歷克斯，他將討論我們第二季度的財務業績和 2020 年的展望。

Thanks, Mark. Starting on Slide 9, I'll cover the income statement highlights for the second quarter. Net sales in Q2 were $642 million, an increase of $110 million compared to the prior quarter.

謝謝，馬克。從幻燈片 9 開始，我將介紹第二季度的損益表亮點。第二季度的淨銷售額為 6.42 億美元，與上一季度相比增加了 1.1 億美元。

The increase was primarily driven by the sale of the American Kings project, partially offset by lower module sale volumes.

這一增長主要是由出售美國國王項目推動的，部分被較低的模塊銷售量所抵消。

On a segment basis, as a percentage of total quarterly net sales, our module segment revenue in Q2 was 58% compared to 74% in Q1.

在細分市場的基礎上，按季度淨銷售額的百分比計算，我們第二季度的組件細分市場收入為 58%，而第一季度為 74%。

Total gross margin was 21% in Q2 compared to 17% in Q1.

第二季度總毛利率為 21%，而第一季度為 17%。

The systems segment gross margin was 21% in Q2 compared to 11% in Q1, and the increase was primarily driven by increased U.S. project sales and higher seasonal production from our power generating assets.

第二季度系統部門毛利率為 21%，而第一季度為 11%，增長主要是由於美國項目銷售增加和我們發電資產的季節性產量增加。

This was partially offset by $22 million of cost increases stemming from unforeseen weather issues, COVID-19-related delays and other matters related to our final EPC project mentioned by Mark earlier. And we intend to pursue recovery of these costs by insurance and other forms of relief.

由於不可預見的天氣問題、與 COVID-19 相關的延誤以及與 Mark 之前提到的最終 EPC 項目相關的其他事項，這部分抵消了 2200 萬美元的成本增加。我們打算通過保險和其他形式的救濟來收回這些費用。

The module segment gross margin was 22% in Q2 compared to 19% in Q1. This increase was driven by a lower cost per watt sold despite the higher mix of volume from our Ohio factories and a slight increase in ASPs compared to Q1.

第二季度模塊部門毛利率為 22%，而第一季度為 19%。儘管我們俄亥俄州工廠的銷量組合更高，且平均售價與第一季度相比略有增加，但這一增長是由於每瓦銷售成本降低所致。

While our total module segment gross margin for the quarter was adversely impacted by $13 million of Series 4-related charges primarily due to severance, decommissioning and costs associated with reduced manufacturing volumes, our Series 6 gross margin was approximately 25% in Q2.

雖然我們本季度的總模塊部門毛利率受到 1300 萬美元的系列 4 相關費用的不利影響，主要是由於與製造量減少相關的遣散費、退役和成本，但我們的系列 6 毛利率在第二季度約為 25%。

This included $3 million of COVID-19-related costs, which reduced our Series 6 gross margin by approximately 1%.

這包括 300 萬美元的 COVID-19 相關成本，這使我們的第 6 系列毛利率降低了約 1%。

SG&A and R&D expenses totaled $74 million in the second quarter, a decrease of approximately $10 million compared to the prior quarter.

第二季度的 SG&A 和研發費用總計 7400 萬美元，與上一季度相比減少了約 1000 萬美元。

Of note, the second quarter total includes $3 million of severance costs, $3 million of impairment charges related to development projects and $1 million of retention compensation.

值得注意的是，第二季度的總額包括 300 萬美元的遣散費、300 萬美元的與開發項目相關的減值費用和 100 萬美元的保留補償。

Start-up expense was $6 million in Q2 compared to $4 million in Q1.

第二季度的啟動費用為 600 萬美元，而第一季度為 400 萬美元。

In relation to litigation matters, as initially slated on June 3, we entered into an agreement in principle to settle the claims and the opt-out actions of $19 million, resulting in a $6 million litigation loss during the second quarter.

關於訴訟事項，最初定於 6 月 3 日，我們達成了一項原則性協議，以和解 1900 萬美元的索賠和選擇退出行動，導致第二季度的訴訟損失為 600 萬美元。

We've since entered into a definitive settlement agreement. And while we were confident in the fact that merits our position, we believe it was in our best interest to conclude this lengthy litigation process and continue our focus on driving the business forward.

此後，我們簽訂了最終的和解協議。雖然我們對這一事實充滿信心，但我們認為結束這一漫長的訴訟程序並繼續專注於推動業務發展符合我們的最大利益。

Separately, the previously disclosed class action settlement agreement received final approval from and was dismissed with prejudice by the court at the end of the second quarter.

另外，此前披露的集體訴訟和解協議在第二季度末獲得法院的最終批准並被法院駁回。

By entering into the definitive settlement agreement for the ops-out, and the class action settlement dismissed with prejudice the final securities litigation is behind us.

通過就 ops-out 達成最終和解協議，集體訴訟和解因偏見而被駁回，最終的證券訴訟已經過去。

Including start-up and litigation losses, total operating expenses were $87 million in the second quarter, reduction of approximately $2 million compared to the first quarter.

包括啟動和訴訟損失在內，第二季度的總運營費用為 8700 萬美元，與第一季度相比減少了約 200 萬美元。

Interest income was $4 million in the second quarter compared to $9 million in Q1. This is primarily driven by decline in interest rates, which led to a reduction in the yield on our cash and time deposits.

第二季度的利息收入為 400 萬美元，而第一季度為 900 萬美元。這主要是由於利率下降導致我們的現金和定期存款的收益率下降。

We recorded tax expense of $10 million in the second quarter compared to a tax benefit of $89 million in the first quarter.

我們在第二季度記錄了 1000 萬美元的稅收支出，而第一季度的稅收優惠為 8900 萬美元。

The increase in tax expense for Q2 is attributable to the discrete tax benefit recognized in Q1 as a result of the CARES Act and higher pretax earnings in Q2.

第二季度稅收支出的增加是由於 CARES 法案在第一季度確認的離散稅收優惠和第二季度更高的稅前收益。

The aforementioned combination of items led to a second quarter earnings per share of $0.35 compared to earnings per share at $0.85 during the first quarter.

上述項目組合導致第二季度每股收益為 0.35 美元，而第一季度每股收益為 0.85 美元。

Next, turning to Slide 10. I'll discuss select balance sheet items and summary cash flow information.

接下來，轉到幻燈片 10。我將討論選擇的資產負債表項目和匯總現金流信息。

Our cash and marketable securities and restricted cash balance ended the quarter at $1.6 billion, an increase of approximately $44 million compared to the prior quarter.

本季度末，我們的現金和有價證券以及受限現金餘額為 16 億美元，與上一季度相比增加了約 4400 萬美元。

Total debt at the end of the second quarter was $465 million, a decrease from $472 million at the end of Q1.

第二季度末總債務為 4.65 億美元，低於第一季度末的 4.72 億美元。

And as a reminder, all of our outstanding debt continues to be project-related and will come off our balance sheet when the corresponding project is sold.

提醒一下，我們所有的未償債務仍然與項目相關，並且會在相應項目出售時從我們的資產負債表中扣除。

Our net cash position, which includes cash, restricted cash and marketable securities less debt, increased by approximately $51 million to $1.2 billion.

我們的淨現金頭寸（包括現金、受限現金和有價證券減去債務）增加了約 5100 萬美元，達到 12 億美元。

The increase in our net cash balance is primarily related to cash collections on systems projects in the U.S. and operating cash flows from our module segment.

我們淨現金餘額的增加主要與美國系統項目的現金收集和我們模塊部門的經營現金流有關。

This was partially offset by capital expenditures and other working capital changes during the second quarter.

這被第二季度的資本支出和其他營運資金變化部分抵消。

Net working capital in Q2, which includes noncurrent project assets and excludes cash and marketable securities, decreased by $76 million compared to the prior quarter.

第二季度的淨營運資本（包括非流動項目資產，不包括現金和有價證券）與上一季度相比減少了 7600 萬美元。

This decrease was primarily due to the sale of project assets, a decrease in accounts receivable related to our last remaining in-house EPC project and an increase in current liabilities, which includes accrued litigation losses.

這一減少主要是由於出售項目資產、與我們最後剩餘的內部 EPC 項目相關的應收賬款減少以及流動負債增加，其中包括應計訴訟損失。

Net cash provided by operating activities was $148 million in the second quarter compared to net cash used in operating activities of $505 million in the prior quarter.

第二季度經營活動提供的淨現金為 1.48 億美元，而上一季度經營活動使用的淨現金為 5.05 億美元。

Finally, capital expenses were $108 million in the second quarter, which brings our year-to-date total to $221 million, as we continue our Series 6 capacity expansion.

最後，隨著我們繼續進行 6 系列產能擴張，第二季度的資本支出為 1.08 億美元，使我們年初至今的總支出達到 2.21 億美元。

Turning to Slide 11, I'll next provide an updated perspective on 2020 guidance.

轉到幻燈片 11，接下來我將提供有關 2020 年指導的最新觀點。

As discussed during the May earnings call, we withdrew our full year 2020 guidance that's been provided in February due to the significant uncertainties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

正如 5 月財報電話會議中所討論的，由於 COVID-19 大流行帶來的重大不確定性，我們撤回了 2 月提供的 2020 年全年指導。

As a follow-up to that decision, I'd like to discuss how each of those uncertainties has evolved.

作為該決定的後續行動，我想討論這些不確定性是如何演變的。

Firstly, the number intensity and trajectory of COVID-19 cases has differed across the globe. For example, Vietnam has been relatively fortunate in experiencing national confirmed cases below 1,000.

首先，COVID-19 病例的數量強度和軌跡在全球範圍內有所不同。例如，越南在全國確診病例低於 1000 例方面相對幸運。

In contrast, the state of Arizona where First Solar's headquarters has now reached over 180,000 confirmed cases.

相比之下，First Solar 總部所在的亞利桑那州的確診病例已超過 180,000 例。

The outlook for the spread of individual exposure to the pandemic and the related impact on businesses and the economy in general remains very uncertain.

個人暴露於大流行病的蔓延前景以及對企業和整體經濟的相關影響仍然非常不確定。

Secondly, since the previous earnings call, local, state and national governments have begun easing certain COVID-19-related restrictions.

其次，自上次財報電話會議以來，地方、州和國家政府已開始放寬某些與 COVID-19 相關的限制。

While we've been committed to operate Series 6 manufacturing in Ohio, Malaysia and Vietnam throughout the pandemic, increases in COVID-19 cases have caused some authorities to reimpose certain restriction, and they may continue to do so or even significantly expand those restrictions.

雖然我們一直致力於在整個大流行期間在俄亥俄州、馬來西亞和越南開展 6 系列製造，但 COVID-19 病例的增加已導致一些當局重新實施某些限制，他們可能會繼續這樣做，甚至大幅擴大這些限制。

Thirdly, to date, we have not experienced any significant operational impact to our manufacturing supply chain, although we continue to monitor this risk.

第三，迄今為止，我們的製造供應鏈並未受到任何重大運營影響，儘管我們會繼續監控這一風險。

From a logistics perspective, port congestion has recently improved in Europe and the United States. However, the most significant impact state remains the consolidation of shipping routes, which has resulted in constrained capacity.

從物流角度看，近期歐美港口擁堵情況有所改善。然而，最顯著的影響狀態仍然是航線的整合，這導致了運力受限。

We've incorporated this into our logistics strategy, but to the extent ports are severely congested or are temporarily shut down, our ability to ship modules and receive inbound raw materials may be adversely impacted.

我們已將此納入我們的物流戰略，但如果港口嚴重擁堵或暫時關閉，我們運送模塊和接收入境原材料的能力可能會受到不利影響。

Fourthly, tax equity and debt markets appear intact for high-quality 2020 projects, as demonstrated by our ability to complete the sale of our American Kings project during the quarter.

第四，對於 2020 年的高質量項目，稅收股權和債務市場似乎完好無損，我們在本季度完成出售美國國王項目的能力就證明了這一點。

However, tax equity commitments for project set to achieve a commercial operation in 2021 appear uncertain.

然而，2021 年實現商業運營的項目的稅收股權承諾似乎不確定。

COVID-19 has caused a number of prominent financial institutions to book record allowances for credit losses during the second quarter, sighting a significant uncertainty around the path of recovery.

COVID-19 已導致許多著名金融機構在第二季度為信貸損失計提了創紀錄的備抵，因為複蘇路徑存在很大的不確定性。

This reduction in profitability may reduce the availability of 2021 tax equity capacity or negatively impact its pricing and terms.

這種盈利能力的下降可能會降低 2021 年稅收權益能力的可用性，或者對其定價和條款產生負面影響。

Our Sun Streams 2 project, which has not been sold, has an expected completion date in 2021 and will require a tax equity investment during this time frame to be efficiently monetized.

我們尚未出售的 Sun Streams 2 項目預計在 2021 年完成，需要在此期間進行稅收股權投資才能有效貨幣化。

We expect visibility into the 2021 tax equity market to continue to improve. However, to the extent the tax equity market remains dislocated, we remain strongly supportive of a direct pay legislative solution in place for investment tax credits to alleviate the structural market constraints.

我們預計 2021 年稅收股票市場的知名度將繼續提高。然而，在稅收股票市場仍然混亂的情況下，我們仍然強烈支持為投資稅收抵免制定直接支付立法解決方案，以緩解結構性市場限制。

Importantly, legislative solutions, such as the aforementioned direct cash payment, could help mitigate the adverse impact of financing delays resulting from reduced tax equity availability for our third-party module customers.

重要的是，立法解決方案，例如上述直接現金支付，可以幫助減輕因第三方模塊客戶的稅收權益減少而導致的融資延遲的不利影響。

Internationally, the rates to our Japan assets, while we made progress as it relates to the sale processes, completing financing, construction and executing asset sales, is challenging in this environment.

在國際上，雖然我們在銷售流程、完成融資、建設和執行資產銷售方面取得了進展，但我們日本資產的利率在這種環境下具有挑戰性。

We're continuing to work with relevant counterparties to facilitate the timely success of these project sales.

我們將繼續與相關交易對手合作，以促進這些項目銷售的及時成功。

Given the significant uncertainties that remain associated with the pandemic and its effect, we feel it's prudent to continue providing the guidance metrics that we believe are largely within our control or within reasonable line of sight at this time.

鑑於與大流行及其影響相關的重大不確定性，我們認為繼續提供我們認為目前在很大程度上在我們控制範圍內或在合理視線範圍內的指導指標是謹慎的。

With these factors in mind, our 2020 guidance is as follows: our full year 2020 production guidance of 5.7 gigawatts of Series 6 and 0.3 gigawatts of Series 4 remains unchanged. We have already achieved our Series 4 production target. And year-to-date, we have produced approximately 3.3 gigawatts of Series 6.

考慮到這些因素，我們的 2020 年指導如下：我們 2020 年 5.7 吉瓦系列 6 和 0.3 吉瓦系列 4 的全年生產指導保持不變。我們已經實現了 Series 4 的生產目標。年初至今，我們已經生產了大約 3.3 吉瓦的 Series 6。

Now we do not anticipate any further ramp costs in 2020 above the $4 million recorded during the first quarter.

現在，我們預計 2020 年的任何進一步增加成本不會超過第一季度記錄的 400 萬美元。

Our operating expenses forecast, which includes production start-up expense, has increased by $5 million to a revised range of $345 million to $365 million.

我們的運營費用預測（包括生產啟動費用）增加了 500 萬美元，修正後的範圍為 3.45 億美元至 3.65 億美元。

While our production start-up expense guidance has decreased by $5 million to a revised range of $45 million to $55 million, this benefit was offset by the previously mentioned $6 million litigation losses and $3 million of impairment charges related to development projects.

雖然我們的生產啟動費用指導已減少 500 萬美元，修訂後的範圍為 4500 萬美元至 5500 萬美元，但這一收益被前面提到的 600 萬美元訴訟損失和與開發項目相關的 300 萬美元減值費用所抵消。

Additionally, depending on the timing of previously expected IT cost savings during the year, we may track to the higher end of our operating expense guidance range.

此外，根據之前預期的本年度 IT 成本節約的時間安排，我們可能會追踪到我們的運營費用指導範圍的較高端。

Finally, our 2020 Series 6 manufacturing CapEx forecast of $450 million to $550 million remains unchanged.

最後，我們對 2020 年第 6 輪製造業資本支出 4.5 億美元至 5.5 億美元的預測保持不變。

As it relates to our module segment, we anticipate sequential improvement in gross margin percentage during the third and fourth quarters.

由於它與我們的模塊部門有關，我們預計第三和第四季度的毛利率百分比將連續提高。

The factors driving this improvement are: firstly, a declining cost per watt, as we've largely ramped manufacturing our second Ohio factory; secondly, limited revenue recognition from Series 4 during the second half of the year; and finally, limited incremental severance costs expected during the second half of the year.

推動這一改進的因素是：首先，每瓦成本下降，因為我們在很大程度上增加了第二家俄亥俄州工廠的生產；其次，今年下半年第四系列的收入確認有限；最後，預計下半年的遣散費增量有限。

While we achieved a 25% Series 6 gross margin in the second quarter, we expect a relatively flat Series 6 gross margin in the third quarter to a modest decline in ASPs, offset by a reduction in cost per watt.

雖然我們在第二季度實現了 25% 的系列 6 毛利率，但我們預計第三季度的系列 6 毛利率相對持平，平均售價將略有下降，但被每瓦成本的降低所抵消。

While we expect a flat Series 6 gross margin in the third quarter, we anticipate an increase in overall module segment gross margin percentage due to declining Series 4 volumes.

雖然我們預計第三季度的系列 6 毛利率持平，但由於系列 4 銷量的下降，我們預計整體模塊部門的毛利率百分比會增加。

In the fourth quarter, we expect Series 6 gross margin expansion of approximately 300 basis points due to a lower cost per watt, increased volume sold and a more favorable plant mix.

在第四季度，由於每瓦成本降低、銷量增加和更有利的工廠組合，我們預計 Series 6 毛利率將增長約 300 個基點。

As we do not anticipate to recognize any Series 4 revenue in the fourth quarter, we expect our Series 6 gross margin will represent overall module segment gross margin.

由於我們預計不會在第四季度確認任何系列 4 收入，我們預計我們的系列 6 毛利率將代表整個模塊部門的毛利率。

Of note, with shipments of approximately 2.5 gigawatts during the first half of the year, our expected shipments profile is incrementally back-weighted to the third and fourth quarters.

值得注意的是，由於上半年的出貨量約為 2.5 吉瓦，我們的預期出貨量逐漸回溯到第三和第四季度。

As we continue to work with our module customers to mitigate impacts from the current pandemic, there remains potential for the timing of module shipments to move across quarters or over year-end, with a corresponding impact to revenue and gross margins.

隨著我們繼續與我們的組件客戶合作以減輕當前大流行的影響，組件出貨時間仍有可能跨季度或超過年底，從而對收入和毛利率產生相應的影響。

Our $1.2 billion net cash position increased by $51 million in the previous quarter. This liquidity position remains a strategic differentiator, which enables us to make proactive and strategic investments in technology, cost and product leadership during the current market disruption and in the long term.

上一季度，我們 12 億美元的淨現金頭寸增加了 5100 萬美元。這種流動性頭寸仍然是一個戰略差異化因素，使我們能夠在當前市場動盪期間和長期對技術、成本和產品領先地位進行積極的戰略投資。

We intend to maintain the strong liquidity position throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. And at this time, we do not expect to draw on our revolving credit facility.

我們打算在整個 COVID-19 大流行期間保持強勁的流動性頭寸。目前，我們預計不會動用我們的循環信貸額度。

Turning to Slide 12, I'll summarize the key messages from today's call. Firstly, we had Q2 earnings per share of $0.35 and increased our quarter end net cash position. Secondly, we achieved fleet-wide capacity utilization over 100% during May, June and July, and have achieved our mid-term cost per watt target of 40% reduction below our 2016 Series 4 costs at our Vietnam factories. Thirdly, demand for our Series 6 technology remains strong, and we have continued success adding to our contracted pipeline, with net bookings of 0.8 gigawatts since the prior earnings call and 2.6 gigawatts year-to-date.

轉到幻燈片 12，我將總結今天電話會議的關鍵信息。首先，我們的第二季度每股收益為 0.35 美元，增加了我們的季度末淨現金頭寸。其次，我們在 5 月、6 月和 7 月實現了超過 100% 的機隊產能利用率，並實現了比 2016 年系列 4 成本在越南工廠降低 40% 的中期每瓦成本目標。第三，對我們系列 6 技術的需求依然強勁，我們繼續成功地增加了我們的合同管道，自上次財報電話會議以來的淨預訂量為 0.8 吉瓦，年初至今為 2.6 吉瓦。

With a contracted backlog of 11.9 gigawatts, we remain effectively sold out through 2020 and have 2 gigawatts remaining to sell of our expected 2021 supply.

我們的合同積壓為 11.9 吉瓦，到 2020 年我們仍然有效地售罄，並且還有 2 吉瓦的電力可以出售我們預計的 2021 年供應。

Despite challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we're pleased with our operational and financial performance, achieving results in line with our pre-COVID expectations.

儘管與 COVID-19 大流行相關的挑戰，我們對我們的運營和財務表現感到滿意，取得了符合我們在 COVID 之前的預期的結果。

And finally, while the significant uncertainty posed by the current pandemic remains, we are updating the guidance provided on our May earnings call, which includes full year 2020 production guidance of approximately 5.9 gigawatts, full year 2020 capital expenditure guidance of $450 million to $550 million and full year 2020 operating expense guidance of $345 million to $365 million, which includes $45 million to $55 million of start-up expenses.

最後，儘管當前大流行帶來的重大不確定性仍然存在，但我們正在更新我們在 5 月財報電話會議上提供的指導，其中包括 2020 年全年生產指導約為 5.9 吉瓦，2020 年全年資本支出指導為 4.5 億美元至 5.5 億美元2020 年全年運營費用指導為 3.45 億美元至 3.65 億美元，其中包括 4500 萬美元至 5500 萬美元的啟動費用。

With that, we conclude our prepared remarks and open the call for questions. Operator?

至此，我們結束準備好的發言並開始提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Philip Shen with ROTH Capital Partners.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 ROTH Capital Partners 的 Philip Shen。

For the bookings you've secured since last earnings call, can you share how much is for delivery in '21 versus 2 and 3? And what are the ASPs for the bookings?

對於自上次財報電話會議以來您獲得的預訂，您能否分享 21 年與 2 年和 3 年的交付費用是多少？預訂的平均售價是多少？

I think last quarter, you mentioned pricing for '22 and '23 was still good in the 30s. And I think you mentioned in the deck that it's still attractive. So I was wondering if you're seeing some pressure perhaps in the outer years. Or if you're still able to maintain?

我認為上個季度，您提到 22 和 23 年的定價在 30 年代仍然不錯。我認為你在套牌中提到它仍然很有吸引力。所以我想知道你是否在外年看到了一些壓力。或者如果你仍然能夠維持？

And then also, as you think about the bookings in '22 and '23 and your cost road map, what are your expectations for margins? It's a ways out, I know, but wanted to just get a sense for -- if you expect margins to remain stable in that time frame or perhaps potentially step down with the Section 201 expiring? Or potentially even see some upside in margins?

然後，當您考慮 22 年和 23 年的預訂以及您的成本路線圖時，您對利潤率的期望是什麼？我知道，這是一條出路，但只是想了解一下——如果您希望利潤率在那個時間範圍內保持穩定，或者可能隨著第 201 條到期而下台？或者甚至可能看到利潤率上升？

Yes. I'll take the bookings ASP, and I'll let Alex handle the margin question. So in terms of the bookings between earnings calls, which is basically 0.8 gigawatts, 400 or so of that was with our systems business, which is -- would be for shipments in 2022, and then the rest effectively is 2021. But what I would expand beyond that, Phil, and we tried to highlight in the call, we have about 900 megawatts that sits in effectively final stage negotiations.

是的。我將接受預訂 ASP，並讓 Alex 處理保證金問題。因此，就財報電話會議之間的預訂量而言，基本上是 0.8 吉瓦，其中 400 左右來自我們的系統業務，即 2022 年的出貨量，其餘的實際上是 2021 年。但我會擴大範圍，菲爾，我們試圖在電話會議中強調，我們有大約 900 兆瓦的電力處於有效的最後階段談判中。

In some cases, ready to sign a PO. In some cases, subject to some CP. In some cases, a letter of intent with exclusivity, locking in the module volume and the module pricing. So against that 900, we've had agreed pricing on all that. It's just -- again, with the uncertainty, and these are all '21 shipments with the uncertainty of the availability of tax equity, with the uncertainty with any type of legislative fixed direct pay type of structure, people are being a little concerned around locking in firm contracts and leaving certain -- some on the CPs open to allow them enough time to assure financings in place and the like associated with the project.

在某些情況下，準備簽署採購訂單。在某些情況下，受制於一些CP。在某些情況下，具有排他性的意向書，鎖定模塊數量和模塊定價。因此，相對於那 900，我們已經就所有這些達成了一致的定價。只是 - 再次，由於不確定性，這些都是 21 年的出貨量，稅收公平性的不確定性，任何類型的立法固定直接支付類型結構的不確定性，人們有點擔心鎖定在確定的合同中並留下某些 - 一些在 CP 上的開放，以便他們有足夠的時間來確保與項目相關的融資等。

These are projects that are committed. These are projects that have PPAs, their sites, they're ready to go. They're just finalizing some of the financing components to ensure they have everything locked and loaded around the project.

這些是已提交的項目。這些項目有 PPA，他們的網站，他們準備好了。他們剛剛敲定了一些融資部分，以確保他們鎖定並加載項目周圍的所有內容。

If you include those projects, those projects also have pre-annual ASPs. So if you look at the volume that we have for module only, it's up 300 or so, 400 or so for 2021 plus that additional 900. They all are still very solid ASPs. We are in advantage situation from the standpoint, as we said. We only have about 2 gigawatts left to book. Our customers know that. There are biases and preferences to do business with First Solar, and certainty of supply and ability to deliver.

如果您包括這些項目，這些項目也有年度前 ASP。因此，如果您僅查看我們的模塊數量，它會增加 300 左右，2021 年增加 400 左右，再加上額外的 900。它們仍然是非常穩定的 ASP。正如我們所說，從角度來看，我們處於優勢地位。我們只剩下大約 2 吉瓦可供預訂。我們的客戶知道這一點。與 First Solar 開展業務存在偏見和偏好，以及供應和交付能力的確定性。

And so we have customers engaging with us proactively so we can lock up that supply. So if I lock up that 900 right now, late-stage negotiations, I only have about 1 gigawatt left for 2021. And our customers want to ensure that security and get that in place for that supply.

所以我們有客戶主動與我們互動，這樣我們就可以鎖定供應。因此，如果我現在鎖定這 900 個，處於後期談判階段，到 2021 年我只剩下大約 1 吉瓦。我們的客戶希望確保安全並為該供應做好準備。

So my ASPs are still holding reasonably firm. We're happy with the ASPs. Behind those -- there's 2 more follow-up orders that almost get to 1 gigawatt that are associated with that 900 that are in late-stage negotiations with 2 separate customers.

所以我的平均售價仍然保持相當穩定。我們對 ASP 很滿意。在這些之後——還有 2 個幾乎達到 1 吉瓦的後續訂單，這些訂單與 900 個與 2 個獨立客戶進行後期談判的訂單相關聯。

They have follow-on commitments they would like to make in 2022. So I can give you a feel of where that pricing is right now. It's in line with what we said in the last call. We had a large order, which had carried volumes into 2022. It did have a 2 handle. It was in the high 2s. It also had adjusters for bins. It had adjusters for module degradation, if we do better than we had guided to.

他們有他們希望在 2022 年做出的後續承諾。所以我可以讓你了解一下現在的定價。這與我們在上次通話中所說的一致。我們有一個大訂單，它的數量一直持續到 2022 年。它確實有一個 2 手柄。這是在高2s。它還有垃圾箱調節器。如果我們做得比我們指導的要好，它就有模塊降級的調節器。

So I look at what we have for last quarter that was booked, plus what we currently are engaged in the market with around pricing in 2022. We're still pretty happy with how that's shaping up. A lot of things can move and change. Clearly, there's got to be some solution to tax equity and capacity because that's going to constrain the market, could have adverse implication around projects.

因此，我查看了我們上一季度的預訂情況，以及我們目前在 2022 年左右定價的市場。我們仍然對它的形成方式感到非常滿意。很多事情都可以移動和改變。顯然，必須有一些解決稅收公平和能力的解決方案，因為這會限制市場，可能會對項目產生不利影響。

But at least from a bookings and relative ASPs, we're pretty happy -- given the challenges in the current environment, pretty happy with what we're seeing.

但至少從預訂和相關 ASP 來看，我們非常高興——考慮到當前環境中的挑戰，我們對所看到的非常滿意。

Yes. So on the cost side, on the margin side, a long way out, as you said, to be giving you guidance around gross margin. But if you try and think around the cost piece, at the beginning of the year, we said we were looking at a 10% reduction in cost over 2019 to 2020 year-end to year-end, and we said we're on track to do that.

是的。因此，在成本方面，在利潤率方面，正如您所說，要為您提供有關毛利率的指導還有很長的路要走。但是，如果您嘗試考慮成本方面，在今年年初，我們表示我們正在考慮在 2019 年至 2020 年年底之間將成本降低 10%，我們表示我們正在走上正軌要做到這一點。

We also said that we expected by year-end to achieve the Series 4 minus 40% cost reduction target we initially stated back 2017 at our high-volume manufacturing. So we've actually already achieved that by midyear at our Vietnam factory. We're tracking well to do that in Malaysia as well.

我們還表示，我們預計到年底將實現我們最初在 2017 年大批量製造時提出的系列 4 成本降低 40% 的目標。所以我們實際上已經在年中在我們的越南工廠實現了這一目標。我們也在馬來西亞很好地跟踪這樣做。

And remember, that number includes freight warranty as well when you're doing a comparison around those numbers. So cost reduction going pretty well so far.

請記住，當您圍繞這些數字進行比較時，該數字還包括貨運保修。因此，到目前為止，成本削減進展順利。

And then if you go back to the slide we showed in our guidance call back in February, we gave you a chart that showed a lot of levers around cost reduction. A key one is our CuRe program, which is going to be increasing wattage and Mark, in prepared remarks, he talked about bringing it out from 460 to 480 in that '22, '23 time frame. And we're doing that with a module that's a same size. We're actually getting increased energy density versus some of what you're seeing in our competitors today who are announcing very large nameplate watt numbers, but actually on an efficiency basis, seeing almost no improvement.

然後，如果您回到我們在 2 月份的指導電話會議中展示的幻燈片，我們為您提供了一張圖表，其中顯示了許多降低成本的槓桿。一個關鍵是我們的 CuRe 計劃，該計劃將增加瓦數，Mark 在準備好的評論中談到，在 '22,'23 的時間框架內將其從 460 提高到 480。我們正在使用相同大小的模塊來做到這一點。與您今天在我們的競爭對手中看到的一些情況相比，我們實際上正在提高能量密度，這些競爭對手正在宣布非常大的銘牌瓦數，但實際上在效率的基礎上，幾乎沒有看到任何改進。

It's just a significantly larger module. So our CuRe is really important to getting us there. CuRe is important for nameplate, wattage also improves degradation overall energy profile.

它只是一個更大的模塊。所以我們的治愈對於讓我們到達那裡非常重要。 CuRe 對銘牌很重要，瓦數也改善了整體能量分佈。

So when we look through that, we think that helps us bring cost down but also negate some of the bifacial threat that we've seen, but that's only a couple of the levers. And if you look through that same chart, I mentioned, we talked about yield throughput, efficiency, bill of material sales rate.

因此，當我們仔細研究這一點時，我們認為這有助於我們降低成本，但也可以消除我們已經看到的一些雙面威脅，但這只是其中的幾個槓桿。如果你看一下我提到的同一張圖表，我們談到了產量吞吐量、效率、物料清單銷售率。

And if you do the math on the chart there, we gave, it's still directionally accurate. You get to a point where we can bring costs down significantly over the next few years. So I can't guide you to gross margin percent at this point.

如果你在那裡的圖表上進行數學計算，我們給出了，它仍然是方向準確的。您可以在未來幾年內大幅降低成本。因此，我目前無法指導您了解毛利率百分比。

But given what Mark said around was -- where we're seeing ASPs, and we're comfortable with those. We're tracking towards the cost reductions that we discussed earlier in the year. I'm comfortable where we are seeing gross margins coming out on those longer-dated bookings.

但考慮到馬克所說的——我們看到 ASP 的地方，我們對這些感到滿意。我們正在跟踪我們在今年早些時候討論的成本降低。我很滿意我們看到那些長期預訂的毛利率。

Our next question comes from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Brian Lee。

I guess first one on the gross margins. The sequential improvement for Series 6 not to get to sort of nickel and dime in here, but is the baseline 25% that you reported this quarter, which includes the $3 million of COVID-related costs, are you assuming those costs come off in the back half? And so it's a 300 basis point expansion in Q4 over a clean 26% baseline?

我猜是毛利率上的第一個。 Series 6 的連續改進不是在這裡得到五分錢，而是您本季度報告的基線 25%，其中包括與 COVID 相關的 300 萬美元成本，您是否假設這些成本在後半部分？因此，在 26% 的基礎上，第四季度擴大了 300 個基點？

And then I guess related to that, are there any more ramp costs embedded in COGS in Q3 and Q4 that further go away in '21?

然後我想與此相關的是，在第三季度和第四季度的 COGS 中是否還有更多的斜坡成本會在 21 年進一步消失？

So as of now, there's no ramp costs in Q3, Q4. The only ramp that we saw is $4 million in Q1, and that's the full expected ramp for the year.

因此，截至目前，第三季度和第四季度沒有坡道成本。我們看到的唯一增長是第一季度的 400 萬美元，這是今年的全部預期增長。

In terms of the expansion, it's still unknown. I mean the number we're giving you here assumes we may still have some COVID-related costs impacting us in Q3 and Q4. So I think you can look at it really as a 300 improvement from the 25 as a starting point.

至於擴張，還是未知數。我的意思是我們在這裡給你的數字是假設我們在第三季度和第四季度可能仍有一些與 COVID 相關的成本影響我們。所以我認為你可以把它看作是從 25 作為起點的 300 改進。

Our next question comes from Michael Weinstein with Crédit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Michael Weinstein。

Can you hear me right?

你能聽清楚嗎？

Sure.

當然。

Sure.

當然。

Okay. Great. You mentioned that Raffi is going to be working on advanced research and development to create the next disruptive technologies beyond Series 6. Is there some preview of that you could talk about at this time? And are there limits to the levels of efficiency that you can get out of the technology?

好的。偉大的。您提到 Raffi 將致力於高級研究和開發，以創造系列 6 之後的下一個顛覆性技術。您現在可以談論一些預覽嗎？您可以從該技術中獲得的效率水平是否存在限制？

There's lots of headroom still to go on the efficiency side in the entitlement around our cad tel device.

在我們的 cad tel 設備周圍的權利方面，在效率方面還有很多餘地。

Raffi, I suppose, you may not remember or aware of. Raffi joined the company decade or so ago. He really joined us as part of our advanced research team, and he, at that time, was leading our efforts to evaluate alternatives to infill material such as CIGS. So his core competencies around understanding really all of the semiconductor devices in PV, in particular, whether it's crystalline silicon, whether it's Perovskites, whether it's cad tel, whether it's CIGS, all different devices. Raffi has got a deep knowledge and understanding on.

拉菲，我想，你可能不記得或不知道。拉菲大約十年前加入了公司。他真的作為我們高級研究團隊的一員加入了我們，當時他正在領導我們評估 CIGS 等填充材料的替代品。所以他的核心能力是真正了解光伏中的所有半導體器件，特別是晶體矽，鈣鈦礦，cad tel，CIGS，所有不同的器件。拉菲對這方面有很深的認識和理解。

So when we look beyond the current device in Series 6, one of the things that we are looking to is -- one of the inherent advantages that we have with cad tel is that from -- it has a very high-band gap, which means that it captures a significant amount of the sun spectrum, the light -- sun spectrum light. And there's a lot of evolution that could happen with devices or technology, and there's some that's being done in aerospace where you create a single junction or to a multi-junction type of technology, whether it could be a combination of different types of technologies, 2 different types of thin films, maybe even -- could be thin films with crystalline silicon as an alternative.

因此，當我們超越系列 6 中的當前設備時，我們正在尋找的一件事是——我們使用 cad tel 的固有優勢之一是——它具有非常高的帶隙，這意味著它捕獲了大量的太陽光譜，即光——太陽光譜光。設備或技術可能會發生很多演變，其中一些正在航空航天領域進行，您可以創建單結或多結類型的技術，無論它可能是不同類型技術的組合，兩種不同類型的薄膜，甚至可能是 - 可以是具有晶體矽的薄膜作為替代品。

So one of the things that Raffi is going to be looking at is not only existing materials, there could be organic PV that he would be looking at as well, different solutions that are evolving Perovskites, could be looking beyond just a single junction into a multi-junction type of device. So it's really just evaluating the world and the spectrum which they are possible, and then how do we leverage what we currently have and evolve that beyond what our current capabilities are around the technology.

因此，Raffi 將要關注的其中一件事不僅是現有材料，他還將關注有機 PV，正在發展鈣鈦礦的不同解決方案，可能不僅僅是一個單一的結點，而是一個多結型設備。所以它實際上只是評估世界和它們可能的範圍，然後我們如何利用我們目前擁有的東西，並將其發展到超出我們目前圍繞技術的能力。

So that's primarily what Raffi is going to be focused on.

所以這主要是拉菲要關注的。

Our next question comes from Ben Kallo with Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Ben Kallo 和 Baird。

Following on previous question from and analyst, just about costs, ramp costs, anything associated with Series 4 ramp down?

繼分析師之前提出的問題之後，關於成本、坡道成本以及與第 4 輪下降相關的任何內容？

And then number two, how do you sell your O&M business, but then your development business, how do you sell that first before development business just in the market?

然後第二個問題，您如何銷售您的運維業務，然後是您的開發業務，您如何在市場上先銷售它，然後再銷售開發業務？

And then number three, just looking at your exit rate for saying that you have 2 gigawatts to sell in 2021, what does that assume for your total production because I think it's higher than your nameplate?

然後第三點，看看你說你在 2021 年有 2 吉瓦要出售的退出率，這對你的總產量有什麼假設，因為我認為它高於你的銘牌？

So the first -- I'll take the O&M question, and then the -- in terms of the 2 gigawatts or 21 relative to what the assumption is for the supply plan. And then Alex can talk about kind of ramp costs in general and then also decommissioning costs related to Series 4.

因此，第一個 - 我將提出 O&M 問題，然後是 - 相對於供應計劃的假設而言，2 吉瓦或 21 吉瓦。然後亞歷克斯可以談論一般的坡道成本，然後還可以談論與系列 4 相關的退役成本。

Ben, look, on the O&M business, especially now that we no longer have the EPC capability, we'll move to a third party. We've kind of separated the development business from the O&M business. And the reason I say that is that a lot of the EPC providers that we engage with also want to provide O&M.

Ben，看，在運維業務上，尤其是現在我們不再具備 EPC 能力，我們將轉向第三方。我們已經將開發業務與運維業務分開了。我這麼說的原因是我們接觸的很多EPC供應商也想提供運維。

So now we created kind of a competitive tension around captive development with maintaining the O&M, even though we're using a third party to do the EPC. The EPC wants to somewhat -- they have guarantees and other warranties that they provide post COD, and they also -- a number of them would prefer to do O&M for that horizon. And some want to do it strategically longer term.

因此，現在我們在維護 O&M 的同時圍繞自營開發製造了一種競爭壓力，即使我們正在使用第三方進行 EPC。 EPC 有點想——他們有保證和其他保證，他們提供 COD 後提供，而且他們也——他們中的一些人更願意在那個範圍內進行 O&M。有些人希望從戰略上長期這樣做。

So for us, because the separation of EPC from the development business has created this natural separation between development and O&M. So it's not as unnatural as it may appear. It's maybe unnatural from how we first evolved.

所以對我們來說，因為EPC與開發業務的分離，造成了開發和運維之間的這種自然分離。所以它並不像看起來那麼不自然。從我們最初的進化方式來看，這可能是不自然的。

As we said, there's -- the capabilities and the cycles of innovation that's evolved in the O&M space today is much different than the journey first started off and if you have those full capabilities.

正如我們所說，今天在運維領域發展的能力和創新周期與最初開始的旅程有很大不同，如果你擁有這些全部能力的話。

So it's kind of separated through that for that reason. And as we look at strategic options for the systems business, even if we end up partnering or doing something different, retaining the interest in the development business, it's not as critical to have the O&M capability as it was years ago.

因此，出於這個原因，它有點分離。當我們考慮系統業務的戰略選擇時，即使我們最終合作或做一些不同的事情，保持對開發業務的興趣，擁有 O&M 能力並不像幾年前那樣重要。

And to some extent, what we prefer to even do today is just do the development, get a cycle -- site, excuse me, to notice, to proceed, staple that with a module agreement and then step out of the equation. I really don't want to deal with the third-party EPC. I just want to -- where we create the greatest amount of value, turning keys over to third-party EPC and sell down into a long-term owner. So that's the process around O&M and how we can separate it.

在某種程度上，我們今天甚至更喜歡做的只是進行開發，獲得一個週期——站點，對不起，注意，繼續，用模塊協議釘住它，然後走出等式。我真的不想和第三方EPC打交道。我只想——在我們創造最大價值的地方，將鑰匙交給第三方 EPC，然後賣給長期所有者。這就是圍繞運維的過程以及我們如何將其分開。

The 2 gigawatts of '21, we'll have nameplate capacity in 2021 of 8 gigawatts. Our supply plan right now is about 7.5 gig. I think we indicated in prior communication that we view between 7.3 and 7.7. So it's -- the midpoint is 7.5. That's kind of what we're tracking to right now.

21 年的 2 吉瓦，我們將在 2021 年達到 8 吉瓦的銘牌容量。我們現在的供應計劃約為 7.5 gig。我認為我們在之前的溝通中表示我們認為在 7.3 和 7.7 之間。所以它 - 中點是 7.5。這就是我們現在正在追踪的內容。

So 2 gigawatts left to go out of 7.5. So we've got 5.5 booked. I got almost half of that 2 gigawatts in late-stage negotiations with negotiated pricing, finalizing terms and conditions. So we have a pretty good line of sight to make sure we can sell-through that '21 pipeline.

所以 7.5 還剩 2 吉瓦。所以我們預訂了5.5。在談判定價、最終確定條款和條件的後期談判中，我獲得了將近一半的 2 吉瓦。所以我們有一個很好的視線來確保我們可以通過 21 年的管道進行銷售。

Yes. And Ben, on the ramp side, on the ramp up, as I mentioned before, $4 million of ramp up costs for the year fully taken in Q1 than were expected. And in terms of ramp down costs, the majority of those ramp down costs hit in Q1 and Q2. We'll see a few single-digit million still come through in terms of true decommissioning costs and a little bit of ongoing severance and retention, but the vast majority of that cost has been taken in the first half of the year.

是的。而本，在斜坡方面，在斜坡上，正如我之前提到的，第一季度完全承擔的 400 萬美元的斜坡成本比預期的要高。就降低成本而言，大部分降低成本發生在第一季度和第二季度。就真正的退役成本以及一些持續的遣散費和保留費而言，我們仍將看到幾百萬美元，但大部分成本已在今年上半年支付。

Our next question comes from Eric Lee with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Eric Lee。

It's Julien here. Just wanted to follow-up here on -- first off, if you can talk about some of the backdrop here for systems business? You guys talked about pressure on that probably trending towards the lower end.

這裡是朱利安。只是想在這裡跟進——首先，您是否可以在這裡談談系統業務的一些背景？你們談到了可能趨向低端的壓力。

Can you elaborate on what's driving that? If I'm hearing you right, you're specifically alluding to tax equity, but I just want to understand what's driving that today and what your expectations are with respect to that evolving over time?

你能詳細說明是什麼原因造成的嗎？如果我沒聽錯的話，你是在特別提到稅收公平，但我只是想了解今天是什麼推動了這一點，以及你對隨著時間的推移而發展的期望是什麼？

And then secondly, if we can come back to the bookings trajectory, near term, but more importantly, longer term, how do you think about signing into '22 and '23, given the potential for further tax credit extensions, et cetera? Just want to understand, is there still pressure to sign into those last couple of years of 30% ITC, the way it's structured now?

其次，如果我們可以回到近期的預訂軌跡，但更重要的是長期來看，鑑於可能進一步延長稅收抵免等，您如何看待簽署 22 年和 23 年？只是想了解一下，在過去幾年的 30% ITC 中，現在的結構方式是否仍然存在壓力？

Julien, just to clarify on your first question, you said lower end of systems. Can you just clarify what you mean by that?

Julien，只是為了澄清你的第一個問題，你說的是系統的低端。你能澄清一下你的意思嗎？

Just give some margin pressure on the systems business, maybe more broadly, as you described in your opening comments?

只是給系統業務一些利潤壓力，也許更廣泛，正如你在開場評論中所描述的那樣？

Yes. Well, first I will and then you can take maybe a little bit on that too. But I think what we said just so we're maybe clear, is we did reference the O&M business that we gave a range of gross margin expectations that we previously had established for O&M and the -- now range was 10% to 30% when we based our Analyst Day in 2017.

是的。好吧，首先我會，然後你也可以接受一點。但我認為我們所說的只是為了讓我們很清楚，我們確實參考了 O&M 業務，我們給出了我們之前為 O&M 建立的一系列毛利率預期，現在的範圍是 10% 到 30%，當時我們以 2017 年的分析師日為基礎。

We indicated that what we've seen in the market is that the actual gross margins on the O&M business have trended towards the lower end. And this combination 2 things, increased competition plus lower PPA prices.

我們表示，我們在市場上看到的是，運維業務的實際毛利率已趨於低端。這種組合有兩件事，競爭加劇加上 PPA 價格降低。

So PPA prices have continued to come down. And really, in order to drive to a lower LCOE, everything, whether it's the module, the inverter, the O&M, operating expenses, whatever it is, all have been kind of under pressure. And so that was the comment, I think we referenced towards the lower end of the range around O&M, and we are seeing that come down, part of the pressure because of lower PPA prices.

因此，PPA 價格繼續下跌。實際上，為了降低 LCOE，一切，無論是模塊、逆變器、運維、運營費用，無論是什麼，都處於壓力之下。這就是評論，我認為我們參考了圍繞 O&M 範圍的低端，我們看到這種下降，部分壓力是由於 PPA 價格下降。

Look, I think the tax equity and the implications that it has, availability is going to be a challenge. So it's going to be mainly available for high-quality projects, plus because it's a constraint, I would expect pricing to actually increase, which actually works against the PPA prices and potentially would require higher PPA prices in order to create market-clearing prices. But I'll let Alex talk more about tax equity, and what we're seeing in that regard.

看，我認為稅收公平及其影響，可用性將是一個挑戰。因此，它將主要用於高質量項目，而且由於它是一個限制因素，我預計價格實際上會上漲，這實際上與 PPA 價格背道而馳，並且可能需要更高的 PPA 價格才能創造市場出清價格。但我會讓亞歷克斯更多地談論稅收公平，以及我們在這方面看到的情況。

Yes. Just one comment on the O&M for the tax equities. I think you've seen margins come down, and that's been also commensurate with a risk profile decrease. So if you look at it on a risk-adjusted basis, I think it's still value in that business. But overall, gross margins have come down, as owners have started to keep more risk on their side of the ledger.

是的。僅對稅收股權的 O&M 發表評論。我認為您已經看到利潤率下降，這也與風險狀況下降相稱。因此，如果您在風險調整的基礎上看待它，我認為它在該業務中仍然具有價值。但總體而言，毛利率下降了，因為所有者開始在賬本上保留更多風險。

When it comes to tax equity, I think what we're seeing, as we mentioned before in the script, capacity levels for 2020 deals. And that's partly a function of banks firming up their views on capacity for the year and partly a function of them are projects pushing out to the right, which is pretty natural in any given year.

談到稅收公平，我認為正如我們之前在腳本中提到的那樣，我們看到的是 2020 年交易的能力水平。這部分是由於銀行加強了對當年產能的看法，部分原因是它們的項目向右推，這在任何一年都是很自然的。

I think what we're seeing in the current market, though, is that the major players who lead transactions, when you look at 2021, they either have already booked out of their capacity or they're just very uncertain around the early stand.

不過，我認為我們在當前市場上看到的是，主導交易的主要參與者，當你看到 2021 年時，他們要么已經預訂了他們的產能，要么他們對早期的立場非常不確定。

So a lot of those major players have taken loan loss reserves so far in 2021, those are accounting reserves today. I think you may start to even crystallize into actual losses in 2021, and there's uncertainty around that.

因此，到目前為止，許多主要參與者在 2021 年已經提取了貸款損失準備金，這些都是今天的會計準備金。我認為你甚至可能會在 2021 年開始具體化為實際虧損，而這方面存在不確定性。

When you combine that with existing commitments that they've made and then also, at this time of the year, you typically tend to get constraints in human resources as the banks focus on closing out deals that have to be done by the end of the year.

當您將其與他們已做出的現有承諾相結合時，在一年中的這個時候，您通常會受到人力資源的限制，因為銀行專注於完成必須在年底前完成的交易年。

What we're seeing is there isn't really committed capital available for next year.

我們看到的是明年沒有真正可用的承諾資本。

On top of that, I think the syndication market has become constrained. So the players who don't normally lead deals that have participation in pieces and then smaller overcapacity, have also got a lot of uncertainty. So that market's dried out and put more pressure on the lead players.

最重要的是，我認為銀團市場已經受到限制。因此，通常不牽頭交易的參與者，參與件數較小的產能過剩，也有很多不確定性。因此，該市場已經枯竭，並對領先企業施加了更大的壓力。

And what that means for us, from a value perspective, when you think about Sun Streams 2, like other large high-quality projects from experienced developers, I think tax equity will ultimately be available for that project.

從價值的角度來看，這對我們意味著什麼，當您考慮 Sun Streams 2 時，就像其他來自經驗豐富的開發人員的大型高質量項目一樣，我認為稅收公平最終將用於該項目。

But it may not be -- and we may be able to get committed capital until late this year, early next year, which will delay the timing of the sale if that happens.

但它可能不會——而且我們可能要到今年年底、明年年初才能獲得承諾的資金，如果發生這種情況，這將推遲出售的時間。

And as Mark said, you could see impact on pricing and/or other terms, which can also impact value. And so I think that's one of the constraints for us. And then from our perspective, obviously, we sell modules to customers who also rely on having tax equity to have their projects move ahead.

正如馬克所說，您可以看到對定價和/或其他條款的影響，這也會影響價值。所以我認為這是我們的限制之一。然後從我們的角度來看，顯然，我們向同樣依靠稅收公平來推動項目推進的客戶銷售模塊。

And if we see significant dislocation in the market, that could be the difference between those projects moving ahead on schedule, being delayed or ultimately even being canceled.

如果我們看到市場出現嚴重錯位，這可能是這些項目按計劃推進、被推遲甚至最終被取消之間的區別。

So those impact to us there on the module side of the business as well. And overall, that's why when we look at it, we believe a legislative solution here is the best way to deal with a constraint. Unfortunately, if you look at the current draft of the Republican proposal put out last week, it doesn't address this tax equity issue, but there's a long way to go before that bill becomes law. And so our hope is that, that provision will be addressed through negotiation and bill reconciliation.

因此，這些對我們在業務模塊方面的影響也是如此。總的來說，這就是為什麼當我們審視它時，我們認為這裡的立法解決方案是處理約束的最佳方式。不幸的是，如果你看看上週提出的共和黨提案的當前草案，它並沒有解決這個稅收公平問題，但在該法案成為法律之前還有很長的路要走。因此，我們希望通過談判和賬單對賬來解決該條款。

Yes. I think the other question you had, Julien, was around volumes in '22 and '23, and how do we think about booking that volume up relative to a potential extension of the ITC, as an example.

是的。我認為 Julien 的另一個問題是關於 22 年和 23 年的數量，例如，我們如何考慮相對於 ITC 的潛在擴展來預訂該數量。

Between '22 and '23, I think where we sit right now, a little bit north of 3 gigawatts or so that is booked in that window. We got another about 1 gigawatt that's in late negotiations as well that's got committed pricing around it.

在 22 年和 23 年之間，我想我們現在坐的地方，在那個窗口預定的 3 吉瓦左右。我們得到了另一個大約 1 吉瓦的電力，它也處於後期談判中，並且圍繞它制定了承諾的定價。

And that's -- so call it, 4 gigawatts that we've got a stake in the ground for -- during that window. That's against about 16 or so gigawatts of supply that we'll have over that period of time.

在那個窗口期間，這就是 - 所謂的 4 吉瓦，我們已經在地面上佔有一席之地。這與我們在這段時間內將擁有的大約 16 吉瓦左右的供應相抵觸。

So maybe we're 1/4 of that somewhat committed to or locked into either booked or with commitment around pricing. It's pretty -- we still have room to go. And really, we still will be very patient in that window.

因此，也許我們有 1/4 在某種程度上承諾或鎖定在預訂或承諾定價方面。很漂亮——我們還有空間。真的，在那個窗口中，我們仍然會非常耐心。

We'll look for good pricing. So knowing where our cost curve is going to go and where we can capture the best pricing. Play to our strengths, like we always do, hot human requirements. Texas being another area that we talked to -- talked before about given cell cracking issues and inability of some of our competitors to get projects underwritten by insurance carriers or just the general cost of insurance being significantly higher.

我們會尋找好的價格。因此，知道我們的成本曲線將走向何方，以及我們可以在哪裡獲得最佳定價。發揮我們的優勢，就像我們一直做的那樣，熱的人類需求。德克薩斯州是我們交談過的另一個地區——之前談到了考慮到電池破裂問題以及我們的一些競爭對手無法讓保險公司承保項目，或者只是保險的一般成本明顯更高。

So there's a number of things that we do in the U.S. that play to our strengths, evolving that with our new technology with our copper replacement product, and if we can capture good value for the technology, start securing up some of that volumes in that window, clearly, we'll do that. But when I think about 4 gigawatts relative to the supply of 16, I got lots of optionality still left that if there is an extension on the ITC that creates an additional peak in the curve and potential more stable and better pricing environment, we still have to take advantage of that as well.

因此，我們在美國做的許多事情都發揮了我們的優勢，通過我們的銅替代產品的新技術不斷發展，如果我們能夠為該技術獲得良好的價值，那麼就開始在其中確保部分產量窗口，顯然，我們會這樣做。但是當我考慮到 4 吉瓦相對於 16 的供應量時，我仍然有很多選擇餘地，如果 ITC 的擴展能夠在曲線中創造一個額外的峰值並潛在的更穩定和更好的定價環境，我們仍然有也可以利用這一點。

Our final question will come from Colin Rusch with Oppenheimer.

我們的最後一個問題將來自 Colin Rusch 和 Oppenheimer。

Are you seeing the impact of lower cost capital start to creep into any of the PPA bids and some of the project economics at this point?

您是否看到現在低成本資本的影響開始蔓延到任何 PPA 投標和一些項目經濟中？

Are you seeing PPA prices come down at all? Are you seeing a little bit of give in some of the project-level economics since you're talking to customers?

您是否看到 PPA 價格下降了？自從您與客戶交談以來，您是否在某些項目層面的經濟學中看到了一些讓步？

Yes. What I would say is it's -- I guess you stay core and you stay true to what you do and you try to create value and where you can differentiate yourself, that's where you engage.

是的。我想說的是——我想你保持核心，忠於你所做的事情，你努力創造價值，在哪裡你可以讓自己與眾不同，這就是你參與的地方。

And so if I look at the PPA price that we have for what we just cleared with a large Fortune 500 customer, the terms condition structure, the price is a premium relative to what I think you're seeing in the market right now.

因此，如果我看一下我們剛剛與一位財富 500 強客戶達成的 PPA 價格，條款條件結構，相對於我認為你現在在市場上看到的價格而言，價格是溢價的。

And part of that just being is the particular counterparty wanted to do business with First Solar. They loved our sustainability approach. It becomes kind of our full life cycle management of our product inception to final recycling and how we engage from that standpoint and how we think about our CO2 footprint, our water usage, it just spreaded so nicely in what they want.

部分原因是希望與 First Solar 開展業務的特定交易對手。他們喜歡我們的可持續發展方法。它成為我們從產品開始到最終回收的全生命週期管理，以及我們如何從這個角度參與以及我們如何看待我們的二氧化碳足跡、我們的用水量，它只是按照他們想要的方式很好地傳播。

And that's core to them as well. And so those things put us in a position to capture better value. And it's no different than I've got a large opportunity with a particular customer that's looking to cure over 1 gigawatt of volume over the next several years. And they want to do business with an American company, right? They love the fact that we have R&D and manufacturing in the U.S., and they're not worried about the lowest possible module price in that example, right?

這也是他們的核心。因此，這些事情使我們能夠獲得更好的價值。這與我與一位希望在未來幾年內治愈超過 1 吉瓦容量的特定客戶有很大的機會並沒有什麼不同。他們想和一家美國公司做生意，對吧？他們喜歡我們在美國進行研發和製造的事實，並且他們並不擔心該示例中可能的最低模塊價格，對嗎？

We create value through our technology, through our capabilities. And they're willing to partner with us in that regard. And they're looking for a true partner. So we try to stay disciplined in that regard.

我們通過我們的技術，通過我們的能力創造價值。他們願意在這方面與我們合作。他們正在尋找一個真正的合作夥伴。因此，我們試圖在這方面保持自律。

As it relates to -- are they -- yes, the -- on the debt side, is that somewhat being positively impacting where people could think through clearing of PPAs or underlying assumptions around that? You have that, but you still have this uncertainty in the U.S. around tax equity, I would argue they kind of offset themselves, and spreads may be moving a little bit as well. And you'll probably get back to the same position that you were in to start from. So I don't think we've seen a real inflection point yet as it relates to cost of capital driving further lower PPA prices.

因為它涉及 - 他們 - 是的 - 在債務方面，這是否在某種程度上對人們可以通過清除 PPA 或圍繞它的基本假設進行思考的地方產生積極影響？你有這個，但你仍然在美國圍繞稅收公平存在這種不確定性，我認為它們會抵消自己，並且價差也可能會有所變化。你可能會回到原來的位置。因此，我認為我們還沒有看到真正的拐點，因為它與推動 PPA 價格進一步走低的資本成本有關。

This ends our time for the question-and-answer session. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

我們的問答環節到此結束。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。