Canadian Solar To Provide A 75 Mw / 300 Mwh Energy Storage System To The Mustang Solar Project In California

Canadian Solar Inc. (the “Company”, or “Canadian Solar”) (NASDAQ: CSIQ), announced today that it has closed a supply contract and long term service agreement with Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC, part of the Renewable Power Group of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (“Goldman Sachs”), to deliver and integrate a 75 MW / 300 MWh lithium-ion battery storage solution into the 100 MWac Mustang solar plant in California.

The 75 MW or 4-hour 300 MWh energy storage system is a retrofit addition to the Mustang solar plant in King’s County, California, which was originally developed by Canadian Solar’s wholly owned subsidiary Recurrent Energy, LLC (“Recurrent Energy”). The solar plant was connected to the grid in August 2016 and the project’s equity stake was later sold to Goldman Sachs in May 2019. 

Canadian Solar will provide the complete integrated solution, including a lithium iron phosphate-based technology package, and all future operations, maintenance and battery augmentation services. In addition, the Company will support the storage solution with fully wrapped capacity and performance guarantees, ensuring system output, reliability and safety. Construction of the energy storage component of the project will begin in early 2021 and is expected to be operational by the second half of 2021.

By pairing solar PV with advanced battery technology, Canadian Solar helps its customers to generate and store solar power during the day for use in the evening. This approach allows California’s power grid to absorb and integrate higher levels of reliable, safe and affordable renewable energy while contributing to the state’s climate mitigation efforts.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, commented, “We are pleased to start supplying this large-scale solar plus energy storage project which will be fully developed by Canadian Solar with our own proprietary technological capabilities. The adoption and integration of energy storage will improve the utilization of solar energy and meaningfully enlarge our global addressable market.”

Dr. Qu added, “We are excited to partner again with Goldman Sachs to deliver clean, cost effective and end-to-end solar energy and storage solutions to our customers and local communities. Despite the challenging market backdrop due to the pandemic, our teams continue to develop innovative technology solutions and execute our business plan. This is a landmark project, the first of many more to come.”