GUELPH, Ontario -- Canadian Solar Inc. announced a partnership with IKEA Australia in a 3.6MW solar-power project that will span across seven IKEA sites located in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, and will generate enough clean energy to offset approximately 4,000 tons of CO2 annually. This is the company's largest commercial PV project roll-out to date globally and emphasizes our unique position to provide our customers with total turn-key solar solutions that reduce the complexities and costs of solar system installation.
Canadian Solar is a leader in PV product quality and durability, providing the industry's highest power outputs per panel. Canadian Solar modules ranked the highest in the PTC Rating (PVUSA Test Condition), which represents real world conditions and referenced by the California Energy Commission, and in the Desert Knowledge Australia - Solar Centre (DKA-SC) demonstration facility, where our CS6P-250P (poly) PV panels outperform many other leading solar companies by producing up to 3 percent more electricity.
Canadian Solar's extensive experience with large-scale rooftop installations across the globe, our capabilities in obtaining the required permits, providing optimized and cost-effective engineering, procurement and construction, and operation & maintenance services, also contributed to IKEA's decision in choosing their PV partner.
IKEA Australia Sustainability Manager Richard Wilson, commented, "We have a long-term approach to sustainability, globally our ambition is to switch to renewable energy to become energy independent by 2020, and we're well on the way. For an installation of this size, installing solar systems on to the roofs of our stores and warehouses here in Australia is a considerable undertaking and each of our sites' has had its challenges. It's important to us and our business to ensure we have efficient, reliable high quality product together with a competitive offer, expert knowledge and experience."
Canadian Solar' professional engineering design was critical to the development of the project systems, which feature state-of-the-art products, such as our Quartech-Next Generation PV panels, micro-inverters, innovative roof-top ballast mounting structure, and smart relay components.
"The IKEA project involved hefty undertakings of grid-connection negotiation. Our organization prides itself in not only producing the world's best PV products but also a dynamic expertise-driven projects team. Fully equipped with advanced understanding of Australian grid codes and backed by years of experience, our local team was able to effectively execute, despite the complexity of the projects. As such, globally celebrated companies like IKEA, continue to choose Canadian Solar because of our expertise, bankability, reliability and commitment to excellence," said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc.
For more information, visit http://www.canadiansolar.com