GUELPH, Ontario, Dec. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced it has achieved financial close on a US$69.0 million non-recourse project financing for the 67.8 MWp Aguascalientes solar power project in Mexico.  

Arranged by Canadian Solar, the $69.0 million non-recourse financing package was provided by Banco Nacional de Comercio Exterior, S.N.C. ("Bancomext") and Banco Sabadell. Bancomext is a Mexican Development Bank and Export Credit Agency, whereas Banco Sabadell is a commercial banking group headquartered in Spain.

The financing package consists of a US$53.2 million long-term loan, a US$5.6 million letter of credit facility, and a US$10.2 million Value Added Tax (VAT) short-term loan. Proceeds from the long-term loan will be used to repay a US$45 million construction loan that was previously provided by Natixis.

The Aguascalientes project was awarded a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) during the 2016 inaugural Mexico energy auction. Electricity generated by the plant will be sold to Comisión Federal de Electricidad, under a 15-year PPA for energy and capacity, and 20-year for Clean Energy Certificates. The solar power plant utilizes over 200,000 high-efficiency CS6U-PMax Power modules supplied by Canadian Solar and is expected to begin its commercial operations before the end of December 2018.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, commented, "We are pleased to partner with Bancomext and Banco Sabadell to support Mexico's goal of reaching 35% renewable energy by 2024. We already have a 436 MWp late-stage pipeline with contracted PPAs in Mexico. These solar projects will enable Canadian Solar to create many local jobs across the Aguascalientes, Hermosillo, and Obregón regions."

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 provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar also has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects in various stages of development. In the past 17 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 30 GW of premium quality modules to over 150 countries around the world. Furthermore, Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar industry, having been publicly listed on NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the company, follow Canadian Solar on LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.

Canadian Solar's 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; 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 26, 2018. 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.

Mary Ma, Manager, Investor Relations, Canadian Solar Inc., investor@canadiansolar.com; David Pasquale, Global IR Partners, csiq@globalirpartners.com, Tel: +1-914-337-8801