GUELPH, Ontario, April 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., in the first quarter of 2015 completed the sale of the third 10 MW AC solar power plant, "CityLights," to Renewable Energy Trust Ontario Holdings, INC/ULC (RET Capital), at a valuation comparable to other recent project sales completed by Canadian Solar on a per megawatt basis. This plant uses Canadian Solar's CSX-P-300|305P panels.

The CityLights solar power plant is located in the town of Chesterville, Ontario.  The electricity generated by this power plant, currently in operation, will be sold to Hydro One under a 20-year Independent Energy Systems Operator feed-in-tariff contract. Canadian Solar provided turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction services, and will further provide operations and maintenance services.

"RET Capital is very pleased to close this deal with our friends at Canadian Solar. By purchasing CityLights, we now have a portfolio of more than 40 MW DC of solar assets in Ontario," said John A. Bohn, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of RET Capital. "We look forward to continuing our close working relationship with Canadian Solar in the future as we expand our North American solar network."

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, commented, "We are pleased to close our third solar power plant sale to RET Capital. Not only does this sale highlight the successful collaboration between Canadian Solar and RET, it also underscores our success in creating sustainable jobs and furthering the use of renewable energy from the sun in Ontario."

About Canadian Solar Inc.

Founded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar is one of the world's largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and a provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects. In the past 14 years, Canadian Solar has successfully deployed over 9 GW of premium quality modules in over 70 countries around the world. Furthermore, Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the world, having been publically listed on NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the company, products, and projects, please visit www.canadiansolar.com.

About RET Capital

RET Capital offers innovative and flexible low-cost financing for wind and solar projects, a unique partnership model, and a deep bench of experienced professionals with unparalleled expertise in surmounting regulatory and financial obstacles. For developers of renewable energy projects, RET Capital reduces risk and helps ensure success. And by acquiring a diversified portfolio of high-quality wind and solar generation facilities with long-term contracts for energy delivery, RET Capital creates a predictable and profitable revenue stream. For additional information, please visit www.renewabletrust.com.

Safe Harbor/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.