March 16, 2011

Canadian Solar Inc., a solar power company, and SkyPower Limited have announced a third engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) agreement to build a 10.5 MW solar park in Thunder Bay, Ont. SkyPower is a Canadian owner and developer of large-scale solar projects and most recently was awarded 148.3 MW through thirteen power purchase agreements by the Ontario Power Authority under the Feed-in Tariff Program.

“In continuing with the growth of Canadian Solar and our working partnership with SkyPower, this next collaboration strengthens our position as a leader in turnkey solution providers for utility scale and commercial systems in Ontario,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, CEO and president of Canadian Solar.

“We see great synergy in manufacturing the solar panels and incorporating them into an overall system design to optimize performance and value for our customers while contributing to the reduction of our carbon imprint as a by-product of our joint achievements,” he continued.  

This EPC agreement is in addition to two previous EPC agreements signed by both companies in December 2010. SkyPower closed financing with Deutsche Bank on these projects late last year. The previous 18.5 MW EPC agreement consists of a 10.5 MW solar park in Napanee, Ont., home to First Light I, (SkyPower’s self-proclaimed first solar project and Canada’s first fully operational solar park). The second project is an 8.5 MW solar park located on Thunder Bay International Airport Authority land, and the third being the 10.5 MW project in Thunder Bay on Fort William First Nation land.

Once fully operational, the combined total for these projects is approximated to be 30 MW of nameplate capacity. “Together, they are expected to generate approximately 28 million KWh in their first full year of operation and almost 600 million kWh total over the next 20 years,” said the companies.

The projects are also expected to create “hundreds of new clean energy jobs” to further accelerate both the Canadian Solar EPC turn-key business and the successful completion of these SkyPower solar parks in Ontario.

All three solar parks are expected to be completed by third quarter 2011.

“We look forward to the completion of these three solar projects as we continue to build out our extensive solar pipeline across the Province, which will to bring an abundance of economic, environmental and health benefits to the communities where we are actively building,” said Kerry Adler, president and CEO of SkyPower.