BlackRock Acquries 10-MW Canadian Solar Project in Ontario

Canadian Solar Inc. today announced that its subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., entered into an agreement with a fund managed by BlackRock, whereby BlackRock will acquire from Canadian Solar the Westbrook 10-MWac utility-scale solar power plant in Kingston, Ontario, at a valuation comparable to other recent project sales completed by Canadian Solar on a per megawatt basis in the Ontario market. This follows BlackRock’s acquisition on September 30, 2013 of the Demorestville and Taylor Kidd utility-scale solar power plants, totaling 20 MWac, and located in Demorestville and Odessa, Ontario, Canada, respectively.

The construction of the Westbrook solar plant is already underway, with commercial operation expected in the second quarter of 2014. Canadian Solar is providing turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services to complete the project and will provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services after completion.

“We are very pleased to expand our partnership with BlackRock,” commented Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc. “This latest transaction is important on multiple levels. It underscores the quality of our project pipeline, our strengths as a partner, and our successful track-record of delivering value to our clients. Canadian Solar continues to differentiate itself from other companies with our robust project pipeline, proven track record in project development and execution around the world. As we look to the future, we remain well positioned with a strong, bankable and global brand, a high-quality backlog of late stage projects and an active feeder flow of attractive new opportunities worldwide.”

“We’re very pleased to announce the purchase of this additional solar project in the Province of Ontario. Canadian Solar continues to demonstrate their focus on the development of high quality assets, and we look forward to strengthening our relationship with them further,” said Jim Barry, Managing Director and head of BlackRock Infrastructure Investment Group.

The Westbrook utility-scale solar power plant is expected to include 47,160 Canadian Solar CS6X modules, which offer high quality, durability, performance and value. In addition this solar power plant will power approximately 1,650 homes, and will provide emissions free energy to Ontarians over their 20-year operational period under the Ontario Power Authority Feed-in-Tariff contract.

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/blackrock-acquries-10-mw-canadian-solar-project-ontario/]