GUELPH, Ontario, Feb. 22, 2018 /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 completed the sale of a 142MWp solar portfolio to
Greencoat Solar II LP ("Greencoat Solar"), managed by Greencoat
Capital LLP ("Greencoat").
The solar portfolio consists of 24 operational solar power
plants across England,
Wales and Scotland, and is expected to provide
inflation-linked solar power generation revenues for a period of 20
years under the UK's Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) and
Feed-In Tariff (FIT) schemes. The portfolio was valued at
approximately GBP 191.2 million
(US$267.7 million), net of
distributions of GBP 3.8 million
(US$5.3 million) made prior to
closing. Completion of the sale has further reduced non-recourse
project debt on the Company's balance sheet by approximately
GBP123.0 million (US$172.2 million). Canadian Solar expects to use
the sale proceeds to further strengthen its balance sheet.
The 24 solar power plants will generate approximately 142,000
MWh of clean energy annually, sufficient for approximately 46,000
UK households and will reduce CO2 emissions by 56,800
tons per year. Three of the solar power plants will provide
additional benefit under the Community Interest Companies (CIC)
scheme, in which profits will benefit the community. The solar
power portfolio includes 272,000 Canadian Solar CS6P and CS6U
modules. Canadian Solar will provide operations and maintenance
services for all 24 solar power plants.
"We are delighted to work with Greencoat, a leading UK renewable
infrastructure investment firm, on the sale of our solar asset
portfolio. Our sizable operational portfolio creates an interesting
investment platform for high quality solar asset growth in the UK,"
commented Dr. Shawn Qu,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. "This
transaction demonstrates our continuing ability to monetize our
assets effectively and maximize shareholder return. We are well
positioned to capitalize on the appreciating sterling pound
currency environment and look forward to partnering with Greencoat
on future opportunities."
About Greencoat Capital
Greencoat Capital is a specialist asset manager dedicated to the
resource efficiency and renewable energy sectors. It has offices in
London and Dublin, and more than £2.0bn under management,
making it one of the largest of such fund managers in Europe. It was founded in 2009 and currently
has fund mandates with segregated strategies in wind
infrastructure, solar infrastructure and private equity.
About Greencoat Solar
Greencoat Solar is a platform within Greencoat Capital managing
two funds with in excess of £0.6 billion under management. The
funds own and operate ground mount solar PV generation assets to
provide a robust, inflation-linked income to investors.
Acquisitions are made with long-term investment horizons. Greencoat
Solar funds currently own c. 470MW of generation capacity across
50+ solar farms around the UK.
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 25 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.
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SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.