GUELPH, Ontario, Jan. 31, 2019 /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 secured a 295 million Brazilian reais (US$80 million) financing from Banco do Nordeste S.A. ("BNB") for its 114 MWp Salgueiro solar power project in the northeast state of Pernambuco, Brazil. BNB is the largest regional development bank in Latin America.
The 114 MWp Salgueiro solar power project is part of the 478 MWp solar portfolio awarded to Canadian Solar during the past two Brazil A-4 energy auctions in December 2017 and April 2018. The Salgueiro project has a 20-year, inflation-linked power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Brazilian Electric Power Commercialization Chamber (CCEE). Construction is expected to start this year, with the plant entering commercial operations by mid of 2020. The plant will utilize over 286,000 of Canadian Solar's high efficiency bifacial modules (BiHiKu) that can generate electricity from both sides of the module to benefit from high solar irradiance in Brazil's northeast region.
The financing package comprises a comprehensive limited-recourse construction and non-recourse operations debt funding over a 20-year tenor based on the concessionary Constitutional Funds Interest Rate (TFC) in Brazil. The Salgueiro project is the second Canadian Solar project to be financed by BNB. The first one is the 366 million Brazilian reais (US$99 million) debt funding for the 115 MWp Pirapora II project in 2018.
Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar commented, "Salgueiro project is among the first solar projects under the Brazil A-4 2017 auction to secure BNB's development funding under the Northeast Constitutional Fund (FNE) program. To date, Canadian Solar has in total developed operational and pipeline projects of over 955 MWp under the federal government energy auctions. Brazil has become one of the most important solar development platforms in the southern hemisphere. Together with our business partners, we are pleased to support the expansion of economic resources in Brazil's northeast region through robust infrastructure investments in renewable energy."
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 30 GW of premium quality modules to over 150 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.
Canadian Solar's 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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