Canadian Solar Partners with Sichuan Development to launch solar investment fund in China

Canadian Solar Inc. on Monday announced that a wholly owned subsidiary of the company has entered into an agreement with Sichuan Development Investment Management Ltd. to establish an investment fund to finance the development, construction and ownership of solar power generation projects in China.

Sichuan Development is an investment management company established and funded by the Sichuan Development Holding Co. Ltd., an investment arm of the Sichuan provincial government. Sichuan Development has over RMB 23 billion (USD3.7 billion) of assets under management and is expected to provide support to facilitate the project development and financing to the fund.

A total of RMB5 billion (USD800 million) is expected to be raised from Sichuan Development, Canadian Solar and third party investors. Sichuan Development and Canadian Solar plan to contribute an initial amount equally, with third party investors expected to contribute the remaining amount to reach the target.

"Our partnership with Sichuan Development to develop, build and own solar power plants is an important milestone for Canadian Solar. This partnership will leverage Canadian Solar's proven track record in developing and building solar power plants on a global basis with Sichuan Development financial strength and credibility to create an industry leader well positioned to participate in the expected growth in the adoption of solar energy in China. While we expect to cover the whole country, this fund will focus particularly on utility-scale and distributed generation solar projects in Sichuan Province, China and other solar resourceful regions in the country."

Canadian Solar has a track record of successful solar deployment boasting over 7 GW of premium quality modules installed in over 70 countries during the past decade.