Canadian Solar Sells 10-MW Solar Site to BlackRock

Canadian Solar Inc., one of the world’s largest solar power companies, 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 Oro-Medonte solar power plant totaling 10 MWac at a valuation comparable to other recent project sales completed by Canadian Solar on a per megawatt basis in the Ontario market.  This latest transaction follows BlackRock’s previously announced acquisition of the Demorestville, Taylor Kidd and Westbrook solar power plants in Ontario, Canada.

Under the agreement, the fourth utility-scale solar power plant purchased by BlackRock is located in the Township of Oro-Medonte and is scheduled to start construction in the first quarter of 2014, with commercial operation expected in the third 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 continue to execute well on our Ontario project backlog as we strengthen our position in the global solar energy solutions space with an industry leading network of partners across all segments of the value chain.  And we are delighted to partner with BlackRock to build four solar power plants and contribute to the growth of clean solar energy in the Ontario market.  As we look to the future, our backlog of contracted and late-state projects in Canada, Japan, the U.S. and China, gives us good visibility into our results for 2014 and beyond.  This is allowing us to prioritize additional opportunities in key markets, a pipeline that we estimate now stands over 3 G, as we emerge as one of the leaders in the solar energy solutions market place,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar.

“We’re very pleased to announce the purchase of this fourth solar project in the Province of Ontario and we look forward to a successful cooperation with Canadian Solar to bring these projects to fruition,” said Jim Barry, Managing Director and head of BlackRock Infrastructure Investment Group.

The Oro utility-scale solar power plant is designed to generate sufficient power for approximately 1,339 homes, and will provide emissions free energy to Ontarians over their 20-year operational period covered under the Ontario Power Authority contracts.  In addition, the solar power plant will include approximately 38,763 Canadian Solar CS6X high-performance modules, and is expected to create more than 150 new jobs during the development and construction phase.

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/canadian-solar-sells-10-mw-solar-site-blackrock/]