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
View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/oakey-2-solar-farm-in-australia-reaches-financial-close-300576345.html
SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.