Having initially updated its global PV project pipeline in January, major photovoltaic energy provider (PVEP) Canadian Solar has revealed its UK plans, which like its US pipeline is being expanded by project acquisitions.
Canadian Solar said that it had acquired six projects totalling 46MW in UK, without saying from which company they had acquired the projects and did not disclose any financial details.
However, the company noted that four of the projects were already under construction and expected to be completed and grid connected in March 2015, beating the changes to UK’s ROC incentive system.
Two other small projects totalling 5.5MW would start construction before the end of February 2015, with completion and grid connections expected sometime in the second quarter of 2015.
The company said that it expected to add further projects to its UK pipeline in 2015.
“The United Kingdom is an important and rapidly growing solar market and these transactions provide us with an attractive opportunity to leverage our expertise and balance sheet to redeploy capital to support our growth and create value for our shareholders,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar.
“We continue to evaluate several opportunities to expand our solar pipeline in the United Kingdom and look forward to making further announcements in the quarters ahead.”
In late January 2015, Canadian Solar’s total early to mid-stage development pipeline stood at 3.1GW, down from 3.2GW in March 2014.
However, the company acquired from Sharp Corporation its project development arm in the US, Recurrent Energy, for US$265 million elevating its PV project pipeline by 4GW, taking its total project pipeline to 8.5GW.
