Canadian Solar announces the rebranding of its CSI Solar energy storage division to e-STORAGE and accelerates growth in deployment of utility-scale energy storage

e-STORAGE, a subsidiary of CSI Solar, deploys leading-edge, flexible, turnkey energy storage solutions across the globe

GUELPH, ON, July 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company" or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ) and its majority-owned subsidiary CSI Solar (SSE: 688472), today announced the re-branding of e-STORAGE, CSI Solar's utility-scale battery energy storage subsidiary and platform. With e-STORAGE, Canadian Solar will accelerate its growth in the global energy storage market and operate as a distinct business unit, under CSI Solar. Previously, e-STORAGE operated as CSI Energy Storage.

e-STORAGE launches with nearly 26 GWh of energy storage projects in its total pipeline and over $1.7 billion of contracted revenues as of July 2023, up from $1 billion in January 2023. This provides significant growth visibility for e-STORAGE over a multi-year period.

At the core of the e-STORAGE platform is SolBank, a self-manufactured, lithium-iron phosphate chemistry-based battery engineered for utility-scale applications. With the proprietary SolBank product, e-STORAGE offers its customers end-to-end, turnkey battery storage solutions. To date, the Company has deployed more than 2.7 GWh of battery energy storage solutions across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and China. The Company offers end-to-end energy storage solutions and services, made possible by robust manufacturing capabilities and cutting-edge products such as SolBank.

e-STORAGE currently operates two fully automated, state-of-the-art, and industry-leading manufacturing facilities and expects to reach an annual capacity of 10 GWh. e-STORAGE is fully equipped to continue providing high-quality, scalable energy storage solutions and contribute to the widespread adoption of clean energy.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, commented, "We are thrilled to launch e-STORAGE and accelerate the growth of our integrated utility-scale battery energy storage business. Battery energy storage continues to grow in importance and value for our customers as they continue to deploy renewable energy and help to further decarbonize power grids. By creating a distinct e-STORAGE brand for our utility-scale turnkey battery storage business, we are further demonstrating that our battery energy storage business has risen to equal significance of long-standing solar business."

Energy storage installations around the world are expected to grow 15-fold by 2030 and Bloomberg New Energy Finance further estimates that approximately 1,100 GWh of new energy storage capacity will be added globally from 2022 to 2030. As one of the most bankable companies in the solar and renewable energy industry, Canadian Solar is well-positioned to serve a growing number of its customers who demand for new storage products and solutions.

About Canadian Solar Inc. 
Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world's largest solar technology and renewable energy companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions, and developer of utility-scale solar power and battery storage projects with a geographically diversified pipeline in various stages of development. Over the past 22 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered around 94 GW of premium-quality, solar photovoltaic modules to customers across the world. Likewise, since entering the project development business in 2010, Canadian Solar has developed, built, and connected over 8.8 GWp in over 20 countries across the world. Currently, the Company has around 609 MWp of solar projects in operation, 6.9 GWp of projects under construction or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional 17.7 GWp of projects in the pipeline (mid- to early-stage). Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar and renewable energy industry, having been publicly listed on the NASDAQ since 2006. In addition, Canadian Solar has completed its initial public offering ("IPO") process and its shares started trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Sci-Tech Innovation Board on June 9, 2023, under the stock code 688472. 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, including those regarding the Company's expected future shipment volumes, revenues, gross margins and project sales 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, regulatory and economic conditions and the state of the solar and battery storage market and industry; geopolitical tensions and conflicts, including impasses, sanctions and export controls; volatility, uncertainty, delays and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic; supply chain disruptions; 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., China, Brazil and Europe; changes in effective tax rates; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product mix; changes in corporate responsibility, especially environmental, social and governance ("ESG") requirements; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in or failure to timely adjust 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; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features that customers demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange and inflation rate fluctuations; uncertainties related to the CSI Solar carve-out listing; litigation and other risks as described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 18, 2023. 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.

CANADIAN SOLAR INC. INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACTS
Isabel Zhang
Investor Relations
Canadian Solar Inc.
[email protected] 

David Pasquale
Global IR Partners
914-337-8801
[email protected] 

e-STORAGE MEDIA INQUIRIES 
Ally Copple
Innovant Public Relations
713-201-8800
[email protected]

SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.