GUELPH, ON, Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar
Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), announced
today the financial close of its 126 MWp Tastiota project in the
state of Sonora, Mexico. The
non-recourse financing package, arranged by Canadian Solar, was
provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation ("SMBC"). SMBC
acted as Sole Structuring Bank and Mandated Lead Arranger in the
transaction.
The Tastiota financing package
consists of a US$67 million senior
loan, US$15 million letter of credit
facility, and a US$12 million VAT
facility covering the construction and operational phase of the
project.
Following the sale in November
2019 of the 49% interest in a 370 MWp portfolio of Mexican
projects to Korea Electric Power Corporation ("KEPCO"),
South Korea's largest electric
utility, and Sprott Korea ("Sprott"), a leading fund manager, these
parties have entered into an agreement to acquire Canadian Solar's
remaining interest in the projects following their commercial
operation date.
The Tastiota project was
awarded a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) during Mexico's third energy auction. Electricity
generated by the project will be sold to the Federal Electricity
Commission (CFE), under a 15-year PPA for energy and capacity, and
20-year for Clean Energy Certificates. The 126 MWp solar power
plant will utilize high efficiency BiHiKu modules supplied by
Canadian Solar and is expected to begin operations at the end of
2020.
Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, commented, "We are very
pleased to partner with SMBC to support Mexico's green strategy and renewable energy
goals. We are also delighted to collaborate with our global
partners KEPCO and Sprott to advance this project. The closing of
this non-recourse project finance during these extraordinary times
is a strong sign of financial markets' confidence in Canadian
Solar's vision and ability to deliver clean solar energy in
Mexico and Latin America more broadly. I am proud of our
teams' accomplishments in contracting 436 MWp of PPAs in
Mexico, which is part of a broader
2.9 GWp portfolio of project backlog across Latin America. We remain focused on serving
this market and maintaining our valued relationships with energy
regulators, investors, customers, suppliers and business
counterparties, as well as supporting continued job creation across
the renewable energy sector."
About Canadian Solar Inc.
Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world's largest and
foremost solar power companies. It is a leading manufacturer of
solar photovoltaic modules and provider of solar energy solutions
and has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale
power projects in various stages of development. Over the past 19
years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 46 GW of
premium quality modules to customers in over 150 countries around
the world. 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; delays in the process of
qualifying to list the Module and System Solutions subsidiary in
the PRC; 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 28,
2020. 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.