Guodian Power Development Co. Ltd (listed on the Shanghai Exchange: 600795) is a subsidiary of state-owned China Guodian Corporation ('Guodian'), one of the five largest national power generation groups. Guodian has power plants in 29 Chinese provinces, employing over 110,000 people. It engages in the development, investment, construction, operation and management of power generation assets, and the production and sales of electricity and heat. By the end of June, 2009, Guodian's total installed capacity reached 7,490 MW, including 6,687 MW thermal, 471 MW hydro, and 325.6 MW wind power.

Mr. Jun Miu, vice president of Guodian Power Development Co., commented, 'Guodian Power Development Co.'s target is to achieve 510 MW of installed PV capacity in China by 2012. We also have a strong interest in overseas expansion. Today's announcement with Canadian Solar is critical to our successful achievement of that goal. We are pleased to have a proven, financially strong and trusted partner like Canadian Solar, as Guodian Power Development moves forward in its important solar expansion effort. We are confident that working together, we can build a complete PV industry supply chain and a strong partnership.'

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, commented: 'We are proud to partner with Guodian Power Development and to reach a formal cooperation agreement with them in China. Our target is to become the leading supplier for Guodian Power Development's anticipated 400 MW to 500 MW of PV projects in China and support its overseas expansions. Recent policies supporting the PV industry announced by Chinese Government have paved the way for us to grow in the Chinese PV market as we further diversify our revenue base. Canadian Solar's anticipated ramp up in module production capacity of 820MW this quarter will prepare us for near term production growth. This broad partnership with Guodian Power Development underscores the success Canadian Solar has achieved worldwide and sets the stage for the next phase of our growth in China.'

Under the agreement, Canadian Solar and Guodian Power Development will initially form a joint venture focusing on PV power plant, with Guodian Power Development holding a majority interest in the proposed PV power plant projects. Canadian Solar will have first right to sell modules and EPC services to the joint venture at market pricing. The agreement initially calls for two grid-connected PV power plants in Ningxia: One project targets 50 MW total installed capacity, with a first phase of 10 MW. A second project will also have a first phase of 10 MW, with further expansions later. The Ningxia PV power plants are designed to establish a scalable model for future business development between Guodian Power Development and Canadian Solar.

About Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ)

Canadian Solar Inc. is a leading vertically integrated provider of ingot, wafer, solar cell, solar module and other solar applications. Canadian Solar designs, manufactures and delivers solar products and solar systems for on-grid and off-grid use to customers worldwide. Canadian Solar is one of the world's largest solar module producers by manufacturing capacity. With operations in North America, Europe and Asia, Canadian Solar provides premium quality, cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solar solutions to support global sustainable development. For more information, visit http://www.canadian-solar.com .

Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release including statements regarding expected future financial and industry growth 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 and economic conditions and the state of the solar industry; governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future shortage or availability of the supply of high-purity silicon; demand for end-use products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers, including customers of our silicon materials sales; changes in demand from major markets such as Germany; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product mix; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in average selling prices; delays in new product introduction; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features customers demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange rate fluctuations; litigation and other risks as described in the Company's SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 20-F originally filed on June 8, 2009. 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. You 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.

SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.

Source: PR Newswire (August 7, 2009 - 8:00 AM EDT)

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