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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SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.