Minturn Huller PV Solar Energy System Goes Live With Canadian Solar PV Modules

USA - English

More than Half Megawatt Installation at California Agricultural Facility Now Producing Clean Solar Energy and Substantial Energy Savings

News provided by

Canadian Solar Inc.

Mar 09, 2010, 06:00 ET

ONTARIO, Canada, March 9 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. ("the Company," "Canadian Solar" or "we") (Nasdaq: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar companies, today announced the activation of a 540kW ground- mount photovoltaic (PV) solar electric system at Minturn Huller Cooperative, Inc., a premier almond huller and sheller for more than 260 almond growers in Central Valley, Calif. The new solar installation, featuring Canadian Solar's high-performance modules, began producing clean energy for the facility in December at a projected annual output of 788 MWh. Minturn Huller will experience cost savings of roughly 20 percent off its annual electric bill, or approximately $40,000 a year.

"Our facility runs an electric-intensive process that removes hulls and shells from nuts 24-hours a day, seven days a week from August to November. We are ecstatic to now be producing such a huge portion of our own energy at significant savings, while reducing our carbon footprint," said Jeff Hamilton, general manager with Minturn Huller Cooperative, Inc. "As the agricultural community continues to see costs rise year after year, utilizing clean solar energy will allow us to better manage our budgets over the long term without sacrificing process quality."

The Minturn Huller system consists of more than 2,700 CS6P-200PE e-Modules across two acres of land, currently harvesting 788,000 kW/h per year at peak capacity. The high-quality e-Modules are made of unique solar-grade silicon that requires 85 percent less energy to produce and generates 90 percent less waste than semiconductor silicon. With the e-Modules, the facility's system will curtail the release of 412,907 pounds of carbon dioxide each year and produce about 60 percent of the facility's main meter.

"The Minturn Huller facility's investment in solar energy sets an example of environmental stewardship in the Central Valley and agricultural industry as a whole," said Mike Miskovsky, U.S. general manager of Canadian Solar, Inc. "Through its leadership and commitment to solar energy, the cooperative will reap significant financial savings on energy while greatly contributing to environmental sustainability, and Canadian Solar is proud that our power- efficient, high-quality modules can contribute to this endeavor. We are also impressed with Cenergy Power's professionalism and dedication to our on-time delivery and workmanship. We are excited about the potential to develop more large commercial projects with Cenergy."

Cenergy Power, one of the top solar developers specializing in the agricultural sector, designed, engineered and installed the solar project. It also provided Minturn Huller with the project financing structure that allowed the cooperative to experience immediate utility savings and, after seven years, the option to purchase the system.

"We are seeing more and more agricultural companies turning to solar energy solutions to help fuel their energy-intensive processes," said Bill Pham, CEO of Cenergy Power. "By partnering with Canadian Solar, we were able to help Minturn Huller realize its goal of deploying a cost-effective, high- value clean energy solution. This is the second +500kW project for Cenergy Power in the last calendar quarter, and we see significant near-term interest in Cenergy Power's value added solar financing and engineering solutions within the agricultural sector."

According to the California Solar Initiative, the Minturn Huller solar system is one of the largest distributed solar projects in Madera County to date. The environmental impact of the system is comparable to 1,574 newly planted trees and the carbon dioxide reduction of those trees over their lifetime.

Earth Day Dedication Ceremony

In honor of Earth Day and Minturn Huller's solar energy success, Canadian Solar, Cenergy Power and Minturn Huller are coming together for the dedication of the system at the Chowchilla hulling facility on April 22, 2010, at 12:00 p.m. PST. For more information about the event, please call Barbara Precht at 888.350.2755 or email [email protected].

About Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ)

Canadian Solar Inc. is one of the world's largest solar companies. As a leading vertically integrated provider of ingot, wafer, solar cell, solar module and other solar applications, Canadian Solar designs, manufactures and delivers solar products and solar system solutions for on-grid and off-grid use to customers worldwide. With operations in North America, Europe and Asia, Canadian Solar provides premium quality, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solar solutions to support global, sustainable development. For more information, visit http://www.canadiansolar.com .

    U.S. offices: 12657 Alcosta Blvd, Suite 140, San Ramon, CA  94583
    Telephone: 1-925-866-2700
    Fax: 1-925-866-2704

About Cenergy Power

Cenergy Power, a division of BAP Power Corp. (www.cenergypower.com), is a solar developer with unmatched solar solutions for commercial and nontaxable enterprises. It is comprised of seasoned professionals in the areas of power quality, power engineering and project financing. For more information, please visit http://www.cenergypower.com .

About Minturn Huller Cooperative, Inc.

Minturn Huller Cooperative, Inc. is a premier almond huller and sheller cooperative serving over 260 almond growers in Central Valley, Calif. For more information, please visit http://www.minturnhuller.com .

Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release including statements regarding expected future demand, shipment volumes, production capacity, outsourcing volumes and cost structures, 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, including customers of our silicon materials sales; changes in demand from major markets such as Germany and Canada; risks associated with building our new Ontario facility; 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; 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 originally filed on June 8, 2009, as amended by its report on Form 20-F/A filed on October 14, 2009. 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.