Canadian Solar continues to sell its global PV assets as part of its new monetization strategy. Source: Canadian Solar

‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member Canadian Solar has completed another project sale, this time of the outstanding shares of three utility-scale solar farming holding companies in Canada, totalling 59.8MW.

SSM 1 Solar ULC, SSM 2 Solar ULC and SSM 3 Solar ULC were sold to Fengate Real Asset Investments, a Vancouver-based asset manager for  CA$257 million (US$195.32 million). The portfolio is located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. As part of the deal, Fengate will take over the outstanding debt from Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and Canadian Solar will provide O&M and asset management services.

The company had around 100MW of Canadian PV power plant projects on its balance sheet at the end of 2016.

Canadian Solar has plans to monetize around 1.2GW of PV power plants in the US by the end of 2017, having already sold several PV power plants in China in recent days from a portfolio of around 134MW. Most recently, the company sold two PV power plants in Ontario, Canada to subsidiaries of Concord Green Energy Inc for around US$115 million.

“We are delighted to announce the successful sale of 3 additional solar power plants,” said Shawn Qu, company chairman and CEO. “To this point, we have sold all of our operating plants of 100 MWdc in Canada, including the BeamLight and Alfred projects sold in December 2016. We value our partnership with Fengate and look forward to deepening our cooperation while we continue to monetize our solar power plants in other countries."

"The Sault St. Marie solar portfolio is fully-contracted with a strong operating record," stated George Theodoropoulos, Fengate's managing director of infrastructure for North America. "Fengate and its investors will benefit from this new relationship with Canadian Solar, an experienced and reputable developer and operator that has extensive knowledge of the solar industry."