GUELPH, Ontario, Feb. 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced that it has acquired six solar power projects totaling 46 MW in the United Kingdom.

Four projects totaling 40.5 MW DC are under construction, and are expected to be connected to the grid in March 2015. An additional two projects totaling 5.5 MW DC are expected to start construction before the end of February, and are expected to be connected to the grid in the second quarter of 2015.

"We are delighted to enter the United Kingdom solar energy market with the acquisition of this portfolio of projects. 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."

Together, these six projects will produce approximately 50,183 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year, which is will displace approximately 38,140 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to removing over 7,276 cars from Britain's roads.

About Canadian Solar Inc.

Founded in 2001 in Ontario, Canada, Canadian Solar is one of the world's largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar has an industry leading and geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale solar power projects as well as a track record of successful solar deployment boasting over 8 GW of premium quality modules installed in over 70 countries during the past decade. Canadian Solar is committed to providing high-quality solar products and solar energy solutions to customers around the world. For more information about our company, products and projects please visit www.canadiansolar.com.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release 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 the risks regarding general business and economic conditions and the state of the solar industry; governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future available supplies of solar grade silicon; demand for solar products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers; changes in demand in our project markets, including Canada, the U.S., Japan and China; changes in customer order patterns; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in average selling price; delays in new product introduction; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features customers demand; utility-scale project approval process delays; utility-scale project construction delays; utility-scale project cancelation due to failure to obtain all the necessary permits; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange rate fluctuations; trade protectionism in Europe, the U.S. and India; litigation and other risks as described in the Company's SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 28, 2014. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. Investors 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.

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SOURCE Canadian Solar Inc.