NEW
YORK and GUELPH,
Ontario, Oct. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Recurrent
Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. ("Canadian Solar")
(NASDAQ: CSIQ) and a global developer, owner, and operator of solar
and energy storage assets, announced today the final closing of a
$500 million investment in Recurrent
Energy by BlackRock through a fund managed by its Climate
Infrastructure business ("BlackRock").
The transaction, announced in January
2024, has been completed following the receipt of the second
and final payment. The first payment took place in June 2024. As agreed between the parties,
BlackRock's total investment has reached $500 million, representing 20% of the outstanding
fully diluted shares of Recurrent Energy on an as-converted basis.
Canadian Solar will continue to own the remaining majority shares
of Recurrent Energy.
This milestone enables Recurrent Energy to advance investment in
its high value project development portfolio, supporting its
strategic transition from a pure developer to a developer plus
long-term owner and operator in select markets including the U.S.
and Europe. This transition will
allow Recurrent Energy to generate more stable long-term revenue in
low-risk currencies and capture greater value from its diversified
global project development pipeline.
Recurrent Energy is one of the world's largest clean energy
project development platforms with a strong and established track
record, having developed, built, and connected over 11 gigawatts
(GWp) of operating utility-scale solar projects and 3.7 gigawatt
hours (GWh) of energy storage projects across six continents since
2009.
Ismael Guerrero, CEO of
Recurrent Energy, said, "We value our partnership with
BlackRock and appreciate their commitment. This strategic
partnership positions Recurrent Energy at the forefront of the
renewable energy industry, providing the financial strength
necessary to continue developing key solar and energy storage
projects globally, while also supporting our mission to deliver
clean, reliable, and affordable power to the world, today and
tomorrow."
David Giordano, Global Head of
Climate Infrastructure, BlackRock, added, "With this investment
from BlackRock's Climate Infrastructure Global Renewable Power Fund
IV, Recurrent Energy is well-positioned to accelerate the growth of
its solar and battery storage projects at utility scale in
critical, fast-growing markets. We are eager to collaborate,
contributing our expertise to shape a top global independent power
producer."
For more information, please refer to Form 6-K filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on January 23, 2024 regarding this investment in
connection with the initial transaction announcement.
About Recurrent Energy:
Recurrent Energy is one of the
world's largest and most geographically diversified utility-scale
solar and energy storage project development, ownership and
operations platforms. With an industry-leading team of in-house
energy experts, Recurrent Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Canadian Solar Inc. and function as Canadian Solar's global
development and power services business. Recurrent Energy has
completed the development of 11 gigawatts (GWp) of operating
utility-scale solar projects and 3.7 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy
storage projects across six continents. Recurrent Energy has more
than 26 GWp of solar and 56 GWh of battery storage projects under
development.
About Canadian Solar:
Canadian Solar was founded
in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world's largest solar
technology and renewable energy companies. It is a leading
manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, provider of solar
energy and battery energy storage solutions, and developer of
utility-scale solar power and battery energy storage projects with
a geographically diversified pipeline in various stages of
development. Over the past 23 years, Canadian Solar has
successfully delivered over 133 GW of premium-quality, solar
photovoltaic modules to customers across the world. Likewise, since
entering the project development business in 2010, Canadian
Solar has developed, built, and connected approximately 11 GWp
of solar power projects and 3.7 GWh of battery energy storage
projects across the world. Currently, the Company has approximately
1.6 GWp of solar power projects in operation, 6.5 GWp of projects
under construction or in backlog (late-stage), and an additional
20.9 GWp of projects in advanced and early-stage pipeline. In
addition, the Company has 1 GWh of battery energy storage projects
in operation and a total battery energy storage project development
pipeline of around 63 GWh, including approximately 8.5 GWh under
construction or in backlog, and an additional 54.3 GWh at advanced
and early-stage development. Canadian Solar is one of the
most bankable companies in the solar and renewable energy industry,
having been publicly listed on the NASDAQ since 2006. For
additional information about the Company, follow Canadian
Solar on LinkedIn or
visit www.canadiansolar.com.
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, regulatory and economic conditions and
the state of the solar power and battery energy storage
market and industry; geopolitical tensions and conflicts, including
impasses, sanctions and export controls; volatility, uncertainty,
delays and disruptions related to global pandemics; supply chain
disruptions; governmental support for the deployment of solar
power and battery energy storage; future available supplies of
silicon, solar wafers and lithium cells; 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 China,
the U.S., Europe, Brazil and Japan;
changes in effective tax rates; changes in customer order patterns;
changes in product mix; changes in corporate responsibility,
especially environmental, social and governance ("ESG")
requirements; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing
pressure and declines in or failure to timely adjust 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;
the pipeline of projects and timelines related to them; the ability
of the parties to optimize value of that pipeline; continued
success in technological innovations and delivery of products with
the features that customers demand; shortage in supply of materials
or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange and
inflation rate fluctuations; litigation and other risks as
described in the Company's filings with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F
filed on April 26, 2024. 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 Inc. Investor Relations
Contacts
Wina Huang
Investor Relations
Canadian Solar Inc.
investor@canadiansolar.com
Recurrent Energy Media Contact
Inés Arrimadas
Recurrent Energy
comms@recurrentenergy.com
BlackRock
Christopher
Beattie
646-231-8518
christopher.beattie@blackrock.com
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SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.