BELECTRIC Selects Canadian Solar to Power 4 New Utility Power Projects in Southern California

SAN RAMON, Calif., Jan. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc., (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced it was selected by BELECTRIC Inc. ("BELECTRIC") to power four new solar power projects, totaling 7.8 MW, in San Bernadino County, Southern California.  

The projects (Otoe Solar, Navajo Solar and Powatan Solar in Apple Valley and Industry Solar in Adelanto) are part of Southern California Edison's (SCE) California Renewable Energy Small Tariff (CREST) feed-in tariff program, which is aimed at developing smaller scale utility power plants to provide distributed sources of clean energy.

"BELECTRIC is excited to be one of the first companies to successfully complete a SCE CREST project," said Dr. Karl Markert, CEO of BELECTRIC Inc. "We were approached in early 2013 with the four projects that needed to be completed before their CREST Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) expired at year end. It was our relationships with SCE, San Bernardino County, and leading solar power companies, like Canadian Solar that greatly assisted us in meeting very tight project schedules. Our in-house development, engineering and construction team built on these relationships and rose to the challenge to permit, design, build, and commission the projects in record time."

BELECTRIC utilized 6,480 Canadian Solar CS6X 300W MaxPower Polycrystalline modules on each project totaling 25,920 modules. At the peak of construction, 250 jobs were created, mainly through hiring local subcontractors. The projects will eliminate 10,290 metric tons of CO₂, the equivalent to removing 1,375 automobiles from the road or planting 454,000 trees.

Canadian Solar's CS6X series of solar modules are considered as one of the best in the industry due to the Company's strict adherence to performance quality testing.  Since being founded in 2001, Canadian Solar modules have powered some of the world's largest solar projects. The series of four projects in San Bernardino County will power approximately 1,900 homes, according to BELECTRIC.

"We are pleased to have been selected by BELECTRIC to power these four solar power projects.  Smaller scale utility power plants represent a sizeable opportunity for us, especially in regions being actively developed, like Southern California.  The fact that we have demonstrated our strength as a partner on much larger projects gives us a competitive advantage in pursuing these new opportunities.  Canadian Solar's global brand, bankability, high performance, proven track record and commitment to excellence combine to make us the partner of choice for solar installation projects around the world," said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Incorporated.

All four installations were commissioned on December 28, 2013. BELECTRIC sold the operational projects to Sustainable Power Group LLC.

About Canadian Solar

Founded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) is one of the world's largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading vertically integrated provider of solar modules, specialized solar products and solar power plants with operations in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia and Asia, Canadian Solar has delivered more than 5GW of premium quality solar modules to customers in over 70 countries. Canadian Solar is committed to improve the environment and dedicated to provide advanced solar energy products, solutions and services to enable sustainable development around the world. For more information, please visit www.canadiansolar.com.

About BELECTRIC Inc.

BELECTRIC Inc. is the North American arm of BELECTRIC, one of the world's most successful companies in the development and construction of ground-mounted solar power plants and photovoltaic roof systems. As an international company, BELECTRIC is represented in more than 20 countries. Its position as a world leader in technology is the result of a high degree of vertical integration in the development and manufacturing processes. A belief in the compatibility of economic and ecological interests has always been the basis for the sustainable success of our 1,750 employees. More than 100 active patents are a testament to BELECTRIC's innovative spirit. In addition to solar power generation, BELECTRIC Drive® concentrates on the combination of photovoltaics and electromobility. Visit www.belectric.com for further information.

Safe Harbor/Forward Looking Statement
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 risks regarding 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 in the Canadian markets; changes in customer order patterns; capacity utilization; pricing pressure and declines in average selling prices; delays in utility-scale project approval process; delays in utility-scale project construction; 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, 2013. 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.