Canadian Solar's First Solar Power Project of 68 MWp in Mexico Started Commercial Operations

GUELPH, Ontario, Feb. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies today announced its first solar power project of 68 MWp in Mexico started commercial operations in January 2019.

The solar plant, located in Aguascalientes, Mexico, is powered by over 200,000 Canadian Solar high-efficiency poly modules CS6U-P. The plant will generate 145 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity annually, enough to power 20,690 households and offset 72,700 tons of carbon dioxide emission each year. In addition to that, a total of 535 jobs were created during the PV plant construction and more than 15 new jobs are expected to be created for operations and maintenance during the upcoming 20 years the plant is in operation. Canadian Solar will provide operations and maintenance services to the plant.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar commented, "Achieving commercial operations for the Aguascalientes project is a significant milestone for Canadian Solar. This definitely strengthens our position as a leading solar project developer in Mexico and Latin America. Mexico is a very important new market for us where we started solar project development business three years ago. We have a remaining pipeline of 368 MWp of solar projects in Mexico with awarded power purchase agreements. Construction of these late-stage projects will soon start and commercial operations will be achieved in 2020."

Canadian Solar competed for and won the Aguascalientes project in the first Long Term Auction in Mexico in 2016. According to the contract agreement, the electricity generated will be sold to Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) under a 15-year PPA for energy and capacity, and 20-year for Clean Energy Certificates.

About Canadian Solar Inc.

Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world's largest and foremost solar power companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and provider of solar energy solutions and has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects in various stages of development. Over the past 18 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 32 GW of premium quality modules to customers in over 150 countries around the world. 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.

SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.