Canadian Solar Inc. today announced that it has been awarded US$3.5 million funding from Australian Renewable Energy Agency ("ARENA") for two of its solar power projects, totaling 47MW in Australia.
The two solar power projects, located in Longreach and Oakey, Queensland, are 17MW and 30MW each in size. With the 20-year government-backed Contract for Difference in place, we plan to start the construction of both projects in Q1 2017 and achieve Commercial Operations Date ("COD") in January 2018 or earlier.
"We are pleased and proud to secure the funding from ARENA to support our solar project business in Australia, where we see the market is growing steadily," commented Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, "By leveraging our strong project development and execution capabilities, and with the support from the local government, we will continue to expand and execute on our quality solar project pipeline in Australia, so as to make contributions to the adoption of clean solar energy in the country."
The 17MW project at Longreach will be comprised of 54,600 Canadian Solar's MaxPower2 CS6U-320 (1500V) polycrystalline modules. The expected output for the first year of operation is around 39.0GWh, equivalent to powering approximately 8,500 Queensland homes. The 30MW project at Oakey utilizes 93,600 Canadian Solar's MaxPower2 CS6U-320 (1500V) polycrystalline modules, with the expected output for the first year of operation of around 59.9GWh, equivalent to powering approximately 14,100 homes in Queensland.