Canadian Solar recently announced that it has started the commercial operation of its 35 megawatt-peak (MWp) solar project located in the Indian state of Karnataka, since March 2018. The plant is expected to annually generate around 54,000 megawatt-hour (MWh) of clean solar power energy.
Details of the Project
The electricity generated from this project will be bought by education, healthcare, cement and auto parts industries through 25 years of power purchase agreements (PPAs), in line with the Open Access regulations of Karnataka.
Notably, this project marks the solar module manufacturer’s launch of its first commercial and industrial (C&I) solar portfolio in India. In terms of economic benefits, this project is expected to boost local businesses by providing them with clean energy at lower electricity cost, over time.
International Portfolio: A Tailwind
Currently, the company has multiple late-stage 2.3 gigawatt-peak (GWp) utility-scale solar power projects in its pipeline including those under construction. On the international front, the company already enjoys its dominance in countries like the United States, Mexico, China, Japan and Brazil. To further diversify its utility scale solar power project pipeline, Canadian Solar has been of late setting its foothold in Australia, South Korea and Argentina on realization of additional growth opportunities across these nations.
To that end, in May 2018, the company announced acquisition of the exclusive rights to develop 8 MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Gangwon Province, South Korea. Earlier in March, Canadian Solar announced that it had acquired a 97.6 MWp solar photovoltaic project in Cafayate, Salta Province, Argentina.
Such a robust portfolio expansion is projected to boost the company’s revenue generation capability, as is evident from its recently released first-quarter results wherein Canadian Solar witnessed a skyrocketing 111% top-line improvement. Considering the latest project commencement in India as well as other project purchases mentioned above, we may anticipate the company to generate similar strong revenue growth in the upcoming quarters as well.
What’s the Prospect in India?
With the United States having walked out of the Paris accord last year and the nation’s President Donald Trump directing his focus toward flourishing the coal industry, the utility operators have shifted their focus to avail opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region. Countries like China, Japan and India are currently dishing out a huge market for solar power expansion, which would emerge as a key growth-driver for the utility providers.
The market for solar power in India is increasing by the year and over the past decade, the annual installation capacity is growing more rapidly. As per a report by Economic Times, at the end of February 2018, India achieved a total of 19.58 GW capacity. Now the Government of India has revised the target of solar energy capacities upward from 20GW to 100GW by 2022. Given this huge prospect in the Indian solar market, we may expect Canadian Solar to invest in more such deals, in coming days.
