Oakey 2 Solar Farm in Australia Reaches Financial Close

GUELPH, Ontario, Jan. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced the Oakey 2 Solar Farm in Queensland, Australia has reached financial close with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation ("CEFC") for a facility commitment of approximately A$55 million (US$42.8 million). The project has a capacity of 70 MWp and is part of the aggregate 117 MWp solar portfolio sale to Foresight Solar Fund Limited ("FSFL").

Further, Canadian Solar has won the EPC contract to complete the construction of the Oakey 2 Solar Farm and another contract to provide O&M services for the initial two years after completion. The Oakey 2 Solar Farm will be powered by 205,860 Canadian Solar KuMax CS3U-340P solar panels and is expected to reach commercial operation in November 2018. Once operational, the project will generate approximately 138,800 MWh of clean solar power per year powering over 23,000 homes in Queensland.

CEFC has provided non-recourse project finance to Canadian Solar across each of its Oakey 1 Solar Farm, Longreach Solar Farm and Oakey 2 Solar Farm projects in Queensland, Australia. Longreach Solar Farm and Oakey 1 Solar Farm, each holding 20-year off-take agreements with the Queensland Government, are in late-stage construction and will reach the grid connection in March and August 2018, respectively. Both the Oakey 1 and Oakey 2 solar farms will be connected to the Queensland power grid through a shared transmission line, funded within the innovative financing facility from CEFC.

"We are pleased to partner with FSFL and the CEFC on extending our integrated business across the solar value chain in Australia's clean energy sector," commented Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. "With a pipeline exceeding 1,000 MW of early to late-stage developments across four states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia), we continue to commit to a sustainable clean energy future for Australia."

About Foresight Group LLP

Foresight is a leading independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager which has been managing investment funds on behalf of institutions and retail clients for more than 30 years. Foresight has £2.8 billion (A$4.8 billion) of Assets Under Management across a number of funds, including Listed Vehicles, Limited Partnerships, Enterprise Investment Schemes (EISs) and Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs). As a global leading solar infrastructure investment manager, Foresight currently manages more than £1.6 billion (A$2.7 billion) in over 100 operating Photovoltaic ("PV") plants with a generating capacity of c. 1.2GW in the UK, Southern Europe, Australia and North America. In Bioenergy, Foresight has mobilised £900m of capital investment into 31 waste projects, which when fully operational will have a waste processing capacity of 1.8 million tonnes per annum, diverting some 1 million tonnes of waste from landfill every year and generating 134MW of clean energy, saving 750,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions every year. Foresight manages the A$200 million Australian Bioenergy Fund ("ABF") which targets investments ranging from A$2 million to A$50 million into energy from waste projects across the continent backed by a cornerstone investment from the CEFC. Foresight is headquartered in London, with international offices in Sydney, Rome and San Francisco with regional UK offices in Nottingham, Manchester and Guernsey. www.foresightgroup.eu  

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 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 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 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.

Investors:
Foresight Group LLP
Ben Thompson, Group Marketing Director, +44 (0)20 3667 8155, bthompson@foresightgroup.eu

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