GUELPH, Ontario, Dec. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced that it has reached commercial operation on its 19.1MWp Gunma Aramaki solar power plant, located approximately 100km northwest of Tokyo, Japan.
The Gunma Aramaki solar power plant is powered by 59,544 Canadian Solar's CS6X MaxPower solar panels. The plant is expected to generate approximately 23,830MWh of clean solar power per year, which will be purchased by Japan's largest energy utility, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. (TEPCO), under a 20 year feed-in-tariff contract at the rate of JPY36.0 ($0.32) per kWh.
Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc. commented, "In 2017, we reached commercial operation on over 100MWp of solar power projects in Japan. Our 19.1MWp Gunma Aramaki project is the first of our two projects in the Gunma prefecture to have reached commercial operation. Today, we have successfully developed solar power plant projects in over 19 prefectures, further enhancing the geographic diversity of the operating portfolio we have developed across Japan."
Earlier on April 3, 2017, the Company announced it had raised JPY 5.4 billion for the Gunma Aramaki project through a dual-tenor green project bond, the first of its kind in Japan. The project received an investment grade rating of "A" from the Japan Credit Rating Agency.
"This project represents a high-quality growth opportunity for Canadian Solar Infrastructure Fund and this innovative financing structure preserves the option for the Fund to acquire this operational asset in the future," further commented Dr. Shawn Qu.
About Canadian Solar Inc.
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 various stages of development. In the past 16 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 24 GW of premium quality modules to over 100 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 LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.
Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release regarding the Company's expected future shipment volumes, gross margins, business prospects and future results, 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 general business and economic conditions and the state of the solar industry; governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future available supplies of high-purity silicon; demand for end-use products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers; changes in demand from major markets such as Japan, the U.S., India and China; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product mix; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in average selling prices; delays in new product introduction; delays in utility-scale project approval process; delays in utility-scale project construction; cancelation of utility-scale feed-in-tariff contracts in Japan; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features customers demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange rate fluctuations; litigation and other risks as described in the Company's SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 27, 2017. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the 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.
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