GUELPH, ON, Jan. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar
Inc. ("Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ) today announced that
its wholly-owned subsidiary, Recurrent Energy, completed the sale
of the Slate project to Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC ("GSRP").
Revenue from the transaction will be recognized in Q1 2021 and
commercial operation is anticipated in late 2021.
The Slate project is a 300 MWac solar plus 140.25 MW / 561 MWh
storage project located in Kings County,
California, and has commenced construction. Canadian
Solar's majority-owned energy
storage subsidiary, System Solutions and Energy Storage ("SSES"),
will provide the battery
storage integration solution for
the project. Additionally, PNC Bank is providing a tax equity
commitment to the project, which demonstrates its pledge to not
only manage its own operations in an environmentally sustainable
manner, but also to support clients with innovative financing
options as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy.
The project has signed PPAs with five different off-takers, four
of which are solar and energy storage, and one that is
solar-only.
Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman
and CEO of Canadian Solar stated, "The Slate project is
Recurrent Energy's largest solar-plus-storage project and
represents continued investment in a community where we have done
business for nearly a decade. Given the
huge market opportunity presented by battery storage, both
standalone as well as paired with solar, we have focused
significant resources in developing our own technological,
servicing and financing solutions over the past few years. We are
now starting to see our efforts come to fruition and are solidly
positioning Canadian Solar as a market leader in this space.
This transaction demonstrates that our SSES team is now a top
bankable battery storage solutions provider with deep technical
know-how in solar and battery integration technology. Likewise, the
Recurrent Energy team has done an excellent job in growing our
storage pipeline in the U.S. which is currently over 4
GWh."
Dr. Qu added, "Having recently transacted with
Goldman Sachs Renewable Power on our first
large-scale storage integration and long term service
agreement for the neighboring Mustang project,
after the project sale in
2019, we are pleased to
partner again with GSRP on the Slate project, expected to be
one of the largest integrated solar-plus-storage projects in the
U.S."
Jon Yoder, Head of the
Renewable Power Group of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said
"We are very excited to partner with Canadian Solar once again on a
landmark project that will provide a significant new source of
clean, renewable energy to California and a battery storage system that
will help facilitate California's
transition to a carbon free power grid."
The Slate project will generate enough low-cost, clean energy to
power approximately 126,000 California homes. The power plant will utilize
approximately 962,000 of Canadian Solar's high efficiency
bifacial BiKu modules across approximately 2,400 acres in
Kings County, California.
Dr. Qu added, "We applaud our Slate customers for
their commitment to use solar generation coupled with expanded
storage capacity to enable a cleaner energy economy and brighter
future in California. As
solar-plus-storage installations in the US are expected to nearly
triple in 2020 and more than double in 2021, we are pleased to
continue to offer flexible and reliable clean energy and grid
reliability solutions for our customers and the communities they
serve."
The project is expected to employ 405 workers at peak
construction, with at least 50% of those construction jobs expected
to be filled by local skilled tradesmen from the Kings County area. Along with indirect
economic benefits that accompany solar project development, such as
increased local spending in the service and construction
industries, the Slate project will
also have a positive economic impact on the local community by
providing significant tax revenues for Kings County.
"This is a landmark solar-with-storage transaction and an
exciting opportunity to support our respected clients Canadian
Solar and Goldman Sachs Renewable Power," said Michael Ziemke, managing director of Renewable
Energy Finance Group for PNC Bank. "At PNC, we are proud to do
our part to help successfully transition to a low-carbon economy by
continuing to support our clients' strategies for more sustainable
operations and providing them with the sustainable financing
programs they need."
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 19 years, Canadian Solar has
successfully delivered over 49 GW of premium-quality, solar
photovoltaic modules to customers in over 150 countries. Likewise,
since entering the project development business in 2010, Canadian
Solar has developed, built and connected over 5.6 GWp in over 20
countries across the world. Currently, the Company has over 500 MWp
of projects in operation, over 5 GWp of projects under construction
or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional 11 GWp of projects in
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. For
additional information about the Company, follow Canadian Solar
on LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.
About Recurrent Energy (Canadian Solar
Subsidiary)
Recurrent Energy is a leading utility-scale solar and storage
project developer, delivering competitive, clean electricity to
large energy buyers. Based in the U.S., Recurrent Energy is a
wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. and functions as
Canadian Solar's U.S. project development arm. Recurrent Energy has
approximately 5 GW of solar and storage projects in development in
the U.S. Additional details are available at
www.recurrentenergy.com.
About System Solutions and Energy Storage, SSES (Canadian
Solar Subsidiary)
SSES is one of the top providers of turnkey energy storage
battery systems and solutions in the world and leverages Canadian
Solar's vast experience in developing and executing renewable
energy projects to offer highly bankable and competitive integrated
energy storage solutions. The division is staffed by energy storage
and renewable energy veterans who work closely with leading battery
technology partners and project developers to provide innovative
storage solutions. Canadian Solar also offers its energy storage
customers long term operation and maintenance services including
battery capacity augmentation, warranty-wrapped energy capacity and
performance guarantees as well as safe and reliable system
operations.
About Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC
Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC is a privately held company
managed by the Renewable Power Group of Goldman Sachs Asset
Management (GSAM). GSRP is the sponsor of more than 800 solar
projects across 27 U.S. states that collectively have a capacity of
more than 2.3 gigawatts of clean, renewable power. GSAM's Renewable
Power Group is comprised of investment professionals with leading
industry expertise across transaction sourcing, financial analysis,
power markets and physical asset analysis and operations. The team
takes a long-term ownership approach to the operations and
management of renewable assets and benefits from Goldman Sachs'
extensive network of relationships, leading institutional
infrastructure and in-house industry knowledge and experience. The
Renewable Power Group is part of GSAM, one of the world's leading
asset managers with approximately $1.9
trillion in assets under supervision globally as of
September 30, 2020
About PNC Bank
PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial
Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: PNC). PNC is one of the largest
diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its
customers and communities for strong relationships and local
delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of
lending products; specialized services for corporations and
government entities, including corporate banking, real estate
finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset
management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.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 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; delays in
the completion of project sales; delays in the process of
qualifying to list the MSS subsidiary in the PRC; 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 28, 2020. 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.
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SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.