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Commitment and Contingencies | 9 Months Ended
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Jun. 30, 2022
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Commitments and Contingencies Commitments The Company has certain contractual obligations incurred in the normal course of business that require fixed and determinable payments in the future. These commitments include lease obligations and purchase commitments under master supply agreements. The Company did not have significant changes in lease contracts and purchase commitments during the nine months ended June 30, 2022. During the nine months ended June 30, 2022, the Company made a $60.0 million advance payment as a capacity guarantee pursuant to a purchase agreement with one of our suppliers, of which, as of June 30, 2022, the balances of $42.5 million and $17.5 million are recorded within “Current assets - Advances to suppliers” and “Non-current assets - Advances to suppliers”, respectively, on the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Warranties The Company is party to both assurance and service-type warranties for various lengths of time. The Company recognizes revenue for service type warranties using either a straight-line or cost to cost method depending on the contract. For assurance-type warranties, the Company records an estimate of future warranty cost when the battery energy solution is transferred to the customer and the future costs of servicing the warranty are both probable and estimable. No material amount of costs for assurance type warranties have been incurred and we are not able to estimate an amount of probable future costs, thus no liability has been recorded. Legal Contingencies From time to time, the Company may be involved in litigation relating to claims that arise out of our operations and businesses and that cover a wide range of matters, including, among others, intellectual property matters, contract and employment claims, personal injury claims, product liability claims, and warranty claims. The Company accrues for litigation and claims when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount of loss can be reasonably estimated. It is reasonably possible that some matters could be decided unfavorably to the Company and could require the Company to pay damages or make expenditures in amounts that could be material. The following discussion covers the Company’s potential loss contingencies as of June 30, 2022: 2021 Cargo Loss Incident On April 28, 2021, the Company was notified of an emergency aboard a vessel carrying Fluence inventory. This incident (the “Cargo Loss Incident”) resulted in damage to a portion of our cargo aboard the vessel. The Company has recorded $13.0 million provision to its inventory as of September 30, 2021 based on the net realizable value of cargo that was destroyed. During the nine months ended June 30, 2022, $13.0 million of inventory was written off against the provision. In addition to the inventory losses, we have incurred and expect to incur incremental expenses related to the incident, primarily consisting of inspection costs, project cost overruns due to logistical changes, legal fees, fees to dispose of the damaged cargo, and additional cost to replace the damaged cargo. We received an aggregate of $10.0 million insurance proceeds related to non-disputed claims, $7.5 million of which was collected in October 2021 and the remaining $2.5 million was collected in April 2022. 2021 Overheating Event at Customer Facility On September 4, 2021, a 300 MW energy storage facility owned by one of our customers experienced an overheating event. Fluence served as the energy storage technology provider and installed the facility, which was completed in fiscal year 2021. No injuries were reported from the incident. Since then, the facility was taken offline as teams from Fluence, our customer, and the battery manufacturer investigate the incident. Our customer released initial findings in the second fiscal quarter of 2022 on what it contends is the root cause of the incident. At this time, Fluence cannot comment on or accept the customer’s stated findings. The customer’s stated findings, if ultimately confirmed and proven, could relate to certain scopes of work for which Fluence or its subcontractors could be responsible. The customer’s stated findings, however, could also relate to certain scopes of work for which other parties were responsible and/or relate to other causes. The customer has alleged that Fluence is liable for the incident but has not yet demanded a specific amount of compensation. Fluence has denied liability, pending completion of all investigations. No legal proceedings have been commenced. We are currently not able to estimate the impact, if any, that this incident may have on our reputation or financial results, or on the market adoption of our products. 2022 Overheating Event at Customer Facility On April 18, 2022, a 10 MW energy storage facility in Chandler, Arizona owned by AES experienced an overheating event. Fluence served as the energy storage technology provider for the facility, which was completed in 2019, and Fluence currently provides maintenance services for the facility. There were no injuries. The facility has been taken offline as teams from Fluence, AES, and the battery manufacturer investigate the incident. We are currently not able to estimate the impact, if any, that this incident may have on our reputation or financial results, or on market adoption of our products.

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