Canadian Solar to Build its Largest Solar Plant in Japan
Canadian Solar Inc. CSIQ has entered into an agreement with Mashiki Town and Kumamoto Prefecture to build a 47-megawatt peak (“MWp”) solar plant.
The Mashiki plant is scheduled to begin commercial operations in early 2017.
It has a 20-year feed-in-tariff contract with Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., under which the utility will purchase approximately 57,000 megawatt-hour of clean, solar electricity generated by the plant annually at 30 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The Mashiki project, which represents the largest project undertaken by Canadian Solar in Japan, is a step toward its aim to develop big solar projects in the solar market.
Japan will become one of the biggest markets for photovoltaic power with the proposed installation of 12.7 gigawatts (“GW”) of solar panels in 2015, up 23% from 2014.
Japan was the world's second largest market for solar PV growth in 2013 and 2014, adding a record 6.9 GW and 9.6 GW of capacity, respectively. The country is going to be a key energy market as the strategy document released by Japan’s Photovoltaic Energy Association (JPEA) in Apr 2015 outlined how Japan solar could reach 100 GW of installed PV generation capacity by 2030.
Ontario, Canada-based Canadian Solar has a significant presence in Japan and continues to expand its operations in this growing solar energy market. The company expects to complete about 19.6 MWp of projects, including construction and grid connection, in Japan in 2015.
Canadian Solar caters to a geographically-diverse customer base spread across key markets. The company has a strong pipeline of projects. Asia is expected to be a big solar module import market in the near future, with Japan, India and China primarily driving demand. Asia and others contributed 46.5% to Canadian Solar’s net revenue in the second quarter of 2015, rising significantly from 29.8% in the year-ago quarter.
Zacks Rank
Canadian Solar currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). ReneSola Ltd SOL, JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. JASO and First Solar, Inc. FSLR are better-ranked stocks in the solar industry. While ReneSola sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both JA Solar and First Solar carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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