Canadian Solar Inc., has announced that it has secured Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) for an aggregate 80 MWac of solar power projects with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a public sector undertaking of the Government of India. Canadian Solar was awarded these projects under a 450 MWac solar capacity tender in the state of Maharashtra, through a competitive auction process. These projects are scheduled to commence operations by late 2017 and will generate clean solar electricity for SECI over the next 25 years.
“We are pleased to secure our first 80 MWac of solar power projects with SECI, a bankable and reputable off-taker operating under the Government of India. This investment adds to our India pipeline that stands at 110 MWac and represents a significant milestone for Canadian Solar in one of world’s fastest growing renewables markets,” commented Dr Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar.
India is set to surpass Japan as the world’s third-highest growth solar market in 2017, with most analysts expecting the country to add at least 8 GW of new solar capacity this year, while some suggest that it could reach 10 GW. In all, India surpassed that 10 GW threshold in the past few days and the country still needs to add 90 GW of solar over the next five years, as it strives to hit its nationally mandated solar target of 100 GW by 2022.
Founded in 2001 in Canada by Dr Shawn Qu, Canadian Solar is one of the world’s largest solar power companies. It operates as a global energy provider with business subsidiaries in over 24 countries on 6 continents. Besides serving as a manufacturer of solar PV modules and provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects. With the company’s recent acquisition of Recurrent Energy, Canadian Solar’s total project pipeline is now 20.4 GW, including an increase in the late-stage project pipeline to 2.4 GW. Including two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Ontario, Canadian Solar employs nearly 9,000 workers worldwide. This translates to more than 18 GW of panel shipments, or approximately 70 million PV modules, in the past 16 years, to over 90 countries around the world. Together with Recurrent Energy, Canadian Solar is significant in ushering the way into a new era of clean, competitive, mainstream power. Furthermore, Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar industry, having been publicly listed on NASDAQ since 2006.