GUELPH, Ontario, Canada, May 15, 2018 – Recurrent Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. (“Canadian Solar”) (NASDAQ: CSIQ), today announced that it has closed on debt financing and tax equity investment commitment for the 74.8 MWac/102 MWp NC 102 solar photovoltaic project, located in Cabarrus County, North Carolina.
Prudential Capital Group will provide a $106.7 million debt facility for the project, including a tax equity bridge loan, term loan and revolving loan to the project. U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation (“USBCDC”), a division of U.S. Bank, will make a tax equity investment in the project under a separate agreement.
“Prudential Capital Group and USBCDC are widely regarded as leading investors in the energy space, and we are pleased to partner again with them to continue growing our project portfolio in the United States,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and chief executive officer of Canadian Solar.
The NC 102 project, which is under construction and is expected to reach commercial operation in the third quarter of 2018, will be one of the largest operating solar projects in North Carolina. The project has a power purchase agreement for 10 years starting in 2018 with Duke Energy Carolinas. Once operating, the project will generate enough clean solar power to meet the energy needs of approximately 12,000 homes.
“Prudential Capital Group is pleased to continue supporting the growth of renewable energy in North Carolina and to strengthen our relationship with Canadian Solar and Recurrent Energy,” said Wendy Carlson, managing director of Prudential Capital Group’s Energy Finance Group: Power.
USBCDC and Prudential Capital Group financed last year the IS-42 solar project in North Carolina, which Recurrent Energy brought to commercial operation in October 2017. USBCDC and Prudential Capital Group have also separately partnered with Recurrent Energy on various solar projects developed in California.
“It is our pleasure to collaborate with Recurrent Energy to support the solar industry in North Carolina,” said Adam Altenhofen, vice president of USBCDC. “As solar energy continues to grow in the state, we look forward to being part of that growth.”
About Prudential Capital Group
Prudential Capital Group is the private capital investment arm of PGIM, the $1 trillion global investment management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU). Prudential Capital Group has been a leading provider of private placements, mezzanine debt and equity, to companies for more than 75 years. Managing a portfolio of $81.7 billion as of March 31, 2018, Prudential Capital offers senior debt, mezzanine financing, leveraged leases, project financing, credit tenant leases as well as asset financing to companies, worldwide. The global regional office network has locations in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Minneapolis, Newark, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Sydney.* For more information, please visit prudentialcapitalgroup.com.
*Operates through PGIM (Australia) Pty Ltd.
About U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation
With $27 billion in managed assets as of March 31, 2018, U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation, a subsidiary of U.S. Bank, provides innovative financing solutions for community development projects across the country using state and federally sponsored tax credit programs. USBCDC’s commitments provide capital investment to areas that need it the most and have contributed to the creation of new jobs, the rehabilitation of historic buildings, the construction of needed affordable and market-rate homes, the development of renewable energy facilities, and the generation of commercial economic activity in underserved communities. Visit USBCDC on the web at www.usbank.com/cdc.
About Recurrent Energy
Recurrent Energy is a leading utility-scale solar project developer, delivering competitive, clean electricity to large energy buyers. Based in the U.S., Recurrent Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. and functions as Canadian Solar’s U.S. project development arm. Recurrent Energy has approximately 5 GW of solar projects in development in the U.S. Additional details are available at www.recurrentenergy.com.
About Canadian Solar Inc.
Founded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar is one of the world’s largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar also has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects in various stages of development. In the past 17 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 26 GW of premium quality modules to over 100 countries around the world. Furthermore, 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.
Canadian Solar Contacts
Mary Ma
Senior Supervisor, Investor Relations
[email protected]
David Pasquale
Global IR Partners
Tel: +1-914-337-8801
[email protected]
Recurrent Energy Media Relations
Kelley Vendeland
Director, Marketing and Communications
Tel: +1-415-501-9536
[email protected]
