agreements or at all. Any interruption in or termination of payments by any of our counterparties could adversely affect our ability to pay project lenders and tax equity investors, could cause a default under the applicable project debt and tax equity financing arrangements, and could trigger cross-defaults under our other financing arrangements. In such a case, the cash flows we receive could be adversely affected. In addition, our ability to finance additional projects with offtake contracts from such counterparties would be adversely affected, undermining our ability to grow our business. The loss of or a reduction in sales to any of our offtakers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks related to the operation and management of our renewable energy projects
Operation and maintenance of renewable energy projects involve significant risks that could result in unplanned outages, reduced output, interconnection or termination issues, or other adverse consequences.
There are risks associated with the operation of our projects. These risks include, but are not limited to:
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greater or earlier than expected degradation, or in some cases failure, of solar panels, inverters, transformers, turbines, gear boxes, blades and other equipment;
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technical performance below projected levels, including the failure of solar panels, inverters, wind turbines, gear boxes, blades and other equipment to produce energy as expected, whether due to incorrect measures of performance provided by equipment suppliers, improper operation and maintenance, or other reasons;
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design or manufacturing defects or failures, including defects or failures that are not covered by warranties or insurance;
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insolvency or financial distress on the part of any of our service providers, contractors or suppliers, or a default by any such counterparty for any other reason under its warranties or other obligations to us;
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increases in the cost of Operational Projects, including costs relating to labor, equipment, unforeseen or changing site conditions, insurance, regulatory compliance, and taxes;
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loss of interconnection capacity, and the resulting inability to deliver power under our offtake contracts, due to grid or system outages or curtailments beyond our or our counterparties’ control;
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breaches by us and certain events, including force majeure events, under certain offtake contracts and other contracts that may give rise to a right of the applicable counterparty to terminate such contract;
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catastrophic events, such as fires, earthquakes, severe weather, tornadoes, ice or hail storms or other meteorological conditions, landslides, and other similar events beyond our control, which could severely damage or destroy a project, reduce its energy output, result in property damage, personal injury or loss of life, or increase the cost of insurance even if these impacts are suffered by other projects as is often seen following events like high-volume wildfire and hurricane seasons;
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storm water or other site challenges;
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the discovery of unknown impacts to protected or endangered species or habitats, migratory birds, wetlands or other jurisdictional water resources, and/or cultural resources at project sites;
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the discovery or release of hazardous or toxic substances or wastes and other regulated substances, materials or chemicals;
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errors, breaches, failures, or other forms of unauthorized conduct or malfeasance on the part of operators, contractors or other service providers;
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cyber-attacks targeted at our projects as a way of attacking the broader grid, or a failure by us or our operators or contractual counterparties to comply with cyber-security regulations aimed at protecting the grid from such attacks;
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failure to obtain or comply with permits, approvals and other regulatory authorizations and the inability to renew or replace permits or consents that expire or are terminated in a timely manner and on reasonable terms;