GUELPH, Ontario, Aug. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced it has closed a US$45 million financing with Natixis, an arm of Groupe BPCE, the second largest banking group in France. Proceeds from the non-recourse financing will be used to construct the Company's 68MWp solar power project in Aguascalientes, Mexico.
Canadian Solar was awarded the Aguascalientes project during the 2016 inaugural Mexico energy auction. Electricity generated by the project will be sold to Comisión Federal de Electricidad, under a 15-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for energy and capacity, and 20-year for Clean Energy Certificates for approximately US$47.95/MWh.
The Aguascalientes solar project will utilize over 200,000 high-efficiency CS6U-P poly modules supplied by Canadian Solar. The construction of the project started in April and is expected to reach commercial operation in December 2018. As the Aguascalientes region boasts some of the highest levels of solar irradiation in the world, the project is expected to meet the electricity demand of approximately 60,000 local homes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
"This is Canadian Solar's first solar power project in Mexico and our first time working with Natixis. I expect more to come in this rapidly growing market," commented Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc. "We have a 436 MWp pipeline of late-stage solar projects with PPAs in Mexico and look forward to collaborating with financial institutions, such as Natixis to, construct these projects."
Canadian Solar and Natixis worked closely to conclude this transaction in less than two months, a very short time frame for a non-recourse project financing. This showcases the unique expertise and commitment from Natixis and Canadian Solar as well as the strong development attributes of the Aguascalientes solar project.
Natixis recently announced that it will introduce its Green Weighting Factor system for its financing deals to comply with Paris Agreement goals. Natixis's Green Weighting Factor is intended to allocate capital to promote financings with a positive impact on both the climate and the environment, by adjusting the expected profitability threshold on these various transactions according to their effects on climate change.
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 provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar also has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects in various stages of development. In the past 17 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 27GW 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 publicly 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 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; delays in the completion of project sales; 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 26, 2018. 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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