Canadian Solar said that the Oakey 2 Solar Farm in Queensland, Australia has reached financial close with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) for a facility commitment of approximately A$55 million or $42.8 million.
The solar project has a capacity of 70 MWp and is part of the aggregate 117 MWp solar portfolio sale to Foresight Solar Fund.
Canadian Solar has won the EPC contract to complete the construction of the Oakey 2 Solar Farm and another contract to provide O&M services for the initial two years after completion.
The Oakey 2 Solar Farm will be powered by 205,860 Canadian Solar KuMax CS3U-340P solar panels and is expected to reach commercial operation in November 2018. The solar project will generate approximately 138,800 MWh of clean solar power per year powering over 23,000 homes in Queensland.
CEFC has provided non-recourse project finance to Canadian Solar across each of its Oakey 1 Solar Farm, Longreach Solar Farm and Oakey 2 Solar Farm projects in Queensland, Australia.
Longreach Solar Farm and Oakey 1 Solar Farm, each holding 20-year off-take agreements with the Queensland Government, are in late-stage construction and will reach the grid connection in March and August 2018, respectively.
Both the Oakey 1 and Oakey 2 solar farms will be connected to the Queensland power grid through a shared transmission line, funded within the innovative financing facility from CEFC.
Shawn Qu, chief executive officer of Canadian Solar, said: “With a pipeline exceeding 1,000 MW of early to late-stage developments across four states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia), we continue to commit to a sustainable clean energy future for Australia.”