New strategic relationship to accelerate Canadian Solar's U.S. market goals and Helio Micro Utility's expansion into Investment Grade(TM) product distribution
TORONTO & BERKELEY, Calif., April 10 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. ("the Company" or "Canadian Solar") (Nasdaq: CSIQ) and Helio Micro Utility ("HmU"), the green power pioneer, today announced a five-megawatt solar photovoltaic module purchase agreement. This agreement will expand CSI's U.S. presence while enabling HmU to accelerate its provision of Investment Grade(TM) equipment to its own projects and other installers.
Dr. Shawn Qu, President and CEO of Canadian Solar, commented, "Canadian Solar is already one of the fastest growing solar manufacturing companies worldwide and this strategic alliance builds our U.S. based team of solar industry experts to accelerate 2009 sales initiatives in this vital market."
Mo Rousso, President and CEO of HmU, stated, "A key part of Helio Micro Utility's strategy is to provide high quality solar modules at superior pricing and terms for not only our own projects but also for those of our installer partners. This agreement will serve as the foundation for our investment grade systems offerings to our installers."
Distribution will include the full line of Canadian Solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, which cover a wide range of power ratings from 0.03W to 300W. The line is backed by a 25-year performance warranty. All modules meet international standards of quality and safety. Canadian Solar is the first solar module manufacturer in the PV industry to apply ISO: TS16949 (The automotive quality management system) to module production.
Canadian Solar PV modules are used for all types of system applications from large-scale solar farms to commercial and residential rooftop systems. They have been used in some of the largest installations in Europe including the 15 MW project in Majora, Spain, completed in August 2008, one of the largest operating photovoltaic plants in the world.
"Canadian Solar modules represent one of the best performance-to-price ratios we have seen in the industry," added Steven Huang, Vice President / General Counsel for HmU. "The Canadian Solar product has been proven in the worldwide market and will help our U.S. installation partners deliver more solar power systems, designed with highly engineered modules for the best return on investment. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to work with the Canadian Solar product line and management team."
About Helio Micro Utility
Helio Micro Utility (HmU) is the green power pioneer seeking to create the world's largest clean energy utility, distributed across millions of roofs. HmU contracts with solar installers to build and maintain solar power systems for commercial, residential, and community energy users. HmU customers Buy Power not Panels(TM), with HmU buying the panels instead and owning the complete solar installation. This simplifies the process for energy users to switch from "brown" energy to "green." Helio Micro Utility is headquartered in Berkeley, CA. For more information please visit http://www.HeliomU.com .
About Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: CSIQ)
Canadian Solar Inc. is a vertically-integrated manufacturer of silicon, ingots, wafers, cells, solar modules (panels) and custom-designed solar power applications. Canadian Solar delivers solar power products of uncompromising quality to customers worldwide. Canadian Solar's world-class team of professionals works closely with our customers to provide them with solutions for all their solar needs.
Canadian Solar was founded in Canada in 2001 and was successfully listed on NASDAQ Exchange (symbol: CSIQ) in November 2006. To date, Canadian Solar has successfully established seven wholly-owned manufacturing subsidiaries in China, with a total combined facility space of close to 156,000 sqm and a module capacity of over 600MW. The total revenue for 2008 is $709 million, a 134% growth in revenue over 2007. Canadian Solar has become one of the major players in the solar industry. For more information, please visit http://www.canadian-solar.com .
Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements for Canadian Solar
Certain statements in this press release including statements regarding expected future financial and industry growth 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 shortage or availability of the supply 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, including customers of our silicon materials sales; changes in demand from major markets such as Germany; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product mix; 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; 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 originally filed on June 3, 2008. 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. You 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.
