Canadian Solar Sets a 22.80% Conversion Efficiency World Record for P-type Large Area Multi-Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell

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Sep 17, 2019, 07:26 ET

GUELPH, Ontario, Sept. 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. ("Canadian Solar" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced its technology team set a world record of 22.80% conversion efficiency for p-type large area multi-crystalline silicon solar cell. The record-setting P5 (casted mono) cell conversion efficiency was tested and certified by Germany's Institute für Solarenergieforschung GmbH (ISFH) in September 2019. It surpasses the previous multi-crystalline cell efficiency world record of 22.28% which was also set by Canadian Solar in April 2019.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar said, "I am very pleased to announce that we broke the world record yet again. This is a milestone for our P5 technology development. It proves that our multi-crystalline silicon technology can achieve efficiencies very close to mono while still enjoying the cost advantage of multi. We remain focused on expanding our technology pipeline to provide our customers with the most LCOE-competitive products."

Canadian Solar has been developing and is commercially launching its P5 cell technology and solar module products. The 22.80% record efficiency multi-crystalline cell was fabricated utilizing 157mmx157mm (area 246.66cm²) P5 silicon wafers and production-ready technologies such as MCCE (Metal Catalyzed Chemical Etch) black-silicon texturing, selective emitter, multi-layer anti-reflection coating, advanced surface passivation, and optimized grid design and metallization. Notably, the MCCE black-silicon texturing technology, originally developed and mass-produced by Canadian Solar, was used to further improve cell performance.

Canadian Solar is a technology leader in the solar industry and one of the highest ranked global solar manufacturers in terms of patent applications and patent grants. The Company has 1,422 patents granted, covering the North American, European and Asia-Pacific regions. In August this year, all of the Company's cell capacity was upgraded to mono-PERC or multi-PERC. On the module product side, Canadian Solar has pioneered the GW-scale introduction of half-cut cell modules (Ku-series), bifacial modules (BiKu), multi-bus bar (MBB), 166mm wafers (HiKu and BiHiKu) and shingled modules (HiDM).

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 36 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.

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 25, 2019. 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.