Canadian Solar secures non-recourse finance for 47 MW projects in Australia

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG) and Australia’s green bank Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) will jointly provide a 5-year loan against collateral – i.e. non-recourse funding, for Canadian Solar’s 17 MW Longreach plant, and the 30 MW Oakey project in Queensland.

For the projects in question, Canadian Solar had previously secured funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to the amount of AU$3.5 million (US$ 2.7 million), as part of the Agency’s AU$100 million (US$ 75 million) pledge to solar PV projects.

“We are pleased to secure the financial backing from MUFG and CEFC, alongside the funding support from ARENA. These projects will directly contribute to the Queensland government's commitment to generating 50% of its electricity needs from affordable clean energy by 2030. We look forward to making further investments in Australia, as we execute on our development pipeline,” said Shawn Qu, CEO and chairman of the Chinese Tier-1 PV module supplier.

The two projects are scheduled to break ground in May 2017, reach commercial operation in early 2018 and continue generating clean energy under a 20-year contract for differences awarded under the Queensland government's Solar 150 program.

In 2016, the company’s downstream activities proved to be a stable source of revenues against the negative impact of record-low module prices. As of February the company’s late-stage project pipeline amounts to 2.1 GWp, including 118 MW in Australia.