Canadian Solar Signs Loan Agreement with Harvest North Star Capital for the Development of its Solar Power Projects in Japan

GUELPH, Ontario, Dec. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced that it has signed a $40 million loan agreement with Harvest North Star Capital ("Harvest North Star" or "HNSC"). The loan facility is split into 3 tranches, with the drawdown of the first tranche expected in December of 2013. The loan facility will be used to finance the development of several ground-mounted solar power projects in Japan totaling around 145.1 MWdc, with approximately 40-50 MWdc expected to start construction during the first half of 2014.

"We are delighted to have the support from Harvest North Star for developing our solar power project pipeline in this important market. This loan agreement demonstrates that we are on track to execute on our Japanese solar project pipeline, consolidate our position as a leading solar energy solutions provider on a global basis, and extend the visibility into our business results well into the future," said Dr. Shawn Qu, President, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar.

"As one of the first dedicated structured finance funds in China, we are pleased to be Canadian Solar's financial partner providing innovative financing solutions in this fast growing market," said Peter Tsao, Founding and Managing Partner of Harvest North Star.

About Harvest North Star Capital

Harvest North Star Capital specializes in structured finance solution serving Chinese companies as well as multinational firms with operation in China. HNSC provides onshore RMB and USD structured financing leveraging a wide variety of asset classes such as renewable energy, unsecured consumer loan, small-medium enterprises loan, cinema receipt, automotive and construction equipment. HNSC is joint-venture formed between Harvest Alternative Investments and a team of financing professionals led by Peter Tsao. Harvest Alternative Investments is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harvest Fund Management Group in China.

About Canadian Solar

Founded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is one of the world's largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading vertically integrated provider of solar modules, specialized solar products and solar power plants with operations in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and Asia, Canadian Solar has delivered more than 5GW of premium quality solar modules to customers in over 70 countries. Canadian Solar is committed to improve the environment and dedicated to provide advanced solar energy products, solutions and services to enable sustainable development around the world. For more information, please 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 the risks regarding 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 in our solar power projects including in Canada and Japan; changes in customer order patterns; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in average selling prices; delays in new product introduction; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features customers demand; delays in utility-scale solar power project approval process; delays in utility-scale solar power project construction; utility-scale solar power project construction cost overruns due to technical difficulties or other reasons; utility-scale solar power plant equipment failure; 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, 2013. 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. You 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.