GUELPH, Ontario, Nov. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced that the company has delivered 10 MW of Canadian Solar bifacial PV modules – BiKuCS3U-PB-AG – to Neighborhood Power for four solar power projects near Portland, Oregon. This represents the first significant delivery of bifacial solar PV modules into the United States.
Bifacial (literally: two faces) solar modules can generate energy not only from the front side, but from the back side as well. With Canadian Solar's Biku bifacial modules, the sunlight on the ground is reflected to the glass-covered back side of the module, producing extra solar energy in a solar system, significantly reducing the solar system's levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), hence higher return on investment (ROI). Depending on the albedo (reflectivity) of the ground and other site conditions, daily energy yield for projects with bifacial modules can be 5-20% higher than with conventional polymer backsheet modules. This improved yield can dramatically enhance the economics of solar system deployments.
Canadian Solar is a leader in bifacial polycrystalline PERC (passivated emitter and rear contact) solar technology. By innovatively integrating bifacial and Ku (dual cell) technologies, the BiKu module can reach up to 370W on the front side, using poly PERC in a 144 cell format. Canadian Solar's bifacial module comes with a 30mm frame for easy handling, saving significant installation costs.
Neighborhood Power chose Canadian Solar bifacial modules because the additional energy gain is significant enough to compensate for the new tariffs on solar modules and steel mounting equipment, and the extra power gain made their solar projects economical again.
"When the solar industry was hit with tariffs on solar modules and steel, it seemed that rising landed costs had priced these projects out of the market," said Stephen Gates, President, Neighborhood Power Corporation. "But with the additional power generated by Canadian Solar's bifacial modules, delivered in the quantities and in the timeframe we needed, we were able to make the project economics work and bring these projects online by the end of 2018 as planned."
Canadian Solar BiKu bifacial modules are warranted for 30 years, 5 years longer than the industry standard, and have a lower degradation rate, which results in 20% additional yield over the lifetime of the solar module. When added to the additional daily bifacial yield of 5-20%, Canadian Solar BiKu bifacial modules deliver up to 44% additional lifetime value compared to conventional modules.
"Canadian Solar foresaw early on that bifacial technology had the potential to be a game changer in the economics of large-scale solar and set out to be a leader in the development and deployment of bifacial solar modules. Our early deployment with Neighborhood Power in the U.S. is one proof point of our successful execution on that strategy," said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar. "All together, Canadian Solar has delivered and deployed over 200 MW of bifacial solar modules for customers and our own solar projects around the world. We pledge to continue innovating and delivering on the breakthrough products and services that will soon make solar PV the most cost-effective source of power generation everywhere."
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 29 GW of premium quality modules to over 100 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.
About Neighborhood Power
Neighborhood Power Corporation (NPC) is a turn-key developer of solar micro-utilities. NPC sells solar power by the kilowatt-hour to residential, commercial, municipal, non-profit and utility markets. www.neighborhoodpower.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; 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.
Investor Relations Contacts, Mary Ma, Manager, Investor Relations, Canadian Solar Inc., investor@canadiansolar.com; David Pasquale, Global IR Partners, Tel: +1-914-337-8801, csiq@globalirpartners.com; Media, Kathy Heilmann, Director, Marketing, Canadian Solar Inc., kathy.heilmann@canadiansolar.com
