Canadian Solar Wins Bid for Chinese Rural Electrification Project

The project was initiated and financed by China's Ministry of Agriculture and the Sichuan Provincial Government. The solar home systems are rated for a peak capacity of 20 watts each. A system of this size can power two lights and a small TV. The delivery of the 80,000 units will be completed by April.

"We were very pleased to win this bid. A solar home system makes a real impact on the lives of these rural households. In many cases it will be the first electrical power source these rural families have ever had. We are very proud to be part of this project,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, president and CEO of Canadian Solar. “Canadian Solar has a business division devoted to the designing, manufacturing and installing solar home and solar village systems for rural electrification and has been actively involved in rural electrification projects in China since 2004."

This represents another step the Chinese government is taking to implement solar technologies of all size. Last month that the Chinese Finance Ministry said that it will provide ¥20 [US $2.93] per watt for projects of 50-kilowatts and above. The move could potentially kick-start the PV industry in China, which up until this point has been almost non-existent. While many solar manufacturers are based in the country, there has been little domestic demand for their products.