Canadian Solar Completes the Sale of Illumination Solar Power Plant to DIF

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Dec 15, 2015, 07:00 ET

GUELPH, Ontario, Dec. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced the sale of the 10 MW AC (14 MW DC) Illumination LP ("Illumination") solar power plant to an affiliate of DIF Infrastructure III ("DIF"). The solar power plant, valued at CAD $65.9 Million (USD$48.4 Million), consists of approximately 47,448 Canadian Solar MaxPower CS6X-300/310P PV modules and is located in Scugog, Ontario. It reached commercial operation on November 13, 2015, and will sell electricity pursuant to a 20-year Independent Electricity System Operator feed-in-tariff contract.

The environmental benefits that will be generated from this solar system are significant. The amount of clean solar energy that the Illumination plant will generate is estimated at 17,892 MWh per year, and 344,697 MWh over 20 years. The amount of carbon dioxide that will be displaced during the system's 20 year lifetime is approximately 237,686 metric tons, equivalent to taking approximately 50,000 cars off the road for one year.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, commented, "We are pleased to announce the sale of Illumination LP to DIF. This marks the third transaction closed between Canadian Solar and DIF, and we thank them for their continued partnership."

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 a provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects. In the past 14 years, Canadian Solar has successfully deployed over 12 GW of premium quality modules in over 70 countries around the world. Furthermore, Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar industry, having been publically listed on NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the company, follow Canadian Solar on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or on the website.

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 quarterly or annual results, particularly the management quotations and the statements in the "Business Outlook" section, 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 the risks regarding the previously disclosed SEC investigation as well as 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 Germany, Japan, the U.S. 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; 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 23, 2015. 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.

SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.