Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Canadian Solar Inc. (the “Company”, or “Canadian Solar”) (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world’s largest solar power companies, today announced that it started the commercial operation of four solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in Japan, totaling approximately 8.6 MWp.
The 8.6 MWp portfolio of projects include the 2.6 MWp Hijimachi Fujiwara solar power plant in Hayami-gun, Oita Prefecture, the 2.2 MWp Koba solar power plant in Isa-shi City, Kagoshima Prefecture, the 2.1 MWp Tsukuba Holes solar power plant in Kasama-shi City, Ibaraki Prefecture and the 1.7 MWp Yusuicho solar power plant in Aira-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture.
Financing for these four projects is being provided by Rabobank Hong Kong, pursuant to a credit agreement announced on July 28, 2015. As previously disclosed, the credit facility has a two-year maturity and will be used to finance the construction of an initial portfolio of up to 20 MWp of the Company’s solar power plants in Japan.
“We are pleased to start commercial operation of four additional solar projects totaling 8.6 MWp, which brings our total megawatts in operation inJapan close to 15 MWp,” commented Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc. “We remain positive on the opportunities ahead for our energy business in Japan and remain committed to delivering reliable solar energy solutions around the world.”
The 2.6 MWp Hijimachi Fujiwara solar plant, powered by 10,098 Canadian Solar CS6P-255P modules, achieved commercial operation on October 13, 2015. The electricity generated from this plant, approximately 3,101 MWh annually, will be purchased by Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. under a 20 year feed-in-tariff contract at the rate of ¥36.00 ($0.30) per kWh.
The 2.2 MWp Koba solar plant powered by 8,558 Canadian Solar CS6P-260P modules, achieved commercial operation on September 16, 2015. The electricity generated from the plant, approximately 2,810 MWh annually, will be purchased by Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. under a 20 year feed-in-tariff contract at the rate of ¥40.00 yen ($0.34) per kWh.
The 2.1 MWp Tsukuba Holes solar plant powered by 8,250 Canadian Solar CS6P-255P modules, achieved commercial operation on September 24, 2015. This plant is expected to generate approximately 2,199 MWh of clean, solar electricity annually to be purchased by Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. under a 20 year feed-in-tariff contract at the rate of ¥40.00 yen ($0.34) per kWh.
And finally the 1.7 MWp Yusuicho solar plant powered by 6,860 Canadian Solar CS6P-255P modules, achieved commercial operation on August 21, 2015. This plant is expected to generate approximately 2,226 MWh of clean, emission-less solar electricity every year, which will be purchased byKyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. under a 20 year feed-in-tariff contract at the rate of ¥36.00 yen ($0.30) per kWh.
About Canadian Solar
Founded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar is one of the world’s largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and a provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects. In the past 14 years, Canadian Solar has successfully deployed over 11 GW of premium quality modules in over 70 countries around the world. Furthermore, Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar industry, having been publically listed on NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the company, follow Canadian Solar on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or on the website.
Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are made under the “Safe Harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by such terms as “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “estimates,” the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include the risks regarding general business and economic conditions and the state of the solar industry; governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future available supplies of solar grade silicon; demand for solar products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers; changes in demand in our project markets, including Canada, the U.S., Japan and China; changes in customer order patterns; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in average selling price; delays in new product introduction; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features customers demand; delays in utility-scale land development approval process; delays in utility-scale project construction; failure to secure grid connection agreement, shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange rate fluctuations; trade protectionism in Europe, the U.S. and India; litigation and other risks as described in the Company’s SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 28, 2014. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All information provided in this press release is as of today’s date, unless otherwise stated, and Canadian Solar undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/canadian-solar-announces-that-it-successfully-started-commercial-operation-of-four-solar-power-plants-in-japan-300162768.html
SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.
Ed Job, CFA, Director, Investor Relations, Canadian Solar Inc., investors@canadiansolar.com. David Pasquale, Global IR Partners, csiq@globalirpartners.com, +1-914-337-8801