Oct 3 2008
Canadian Solar Inc. today announced it has completed and commissioned the Phase I of its ingot and wafer plant on schedule, giving the Company an annualized ingot and wafer capacity of 60 MW. Phase II of the ingot plant is expected to be completed by year-end, ahead of the original schedule. This will bring the Company's ingot and wafer capacity to 150 - 200 MW.
In further developments, Canadian Solar's 250 MW Phase II cell plant will also be completed in October, with the next stage to begin immediately thereafter. As of October, CSI's current annualized capacity is 220 MW and is expected to reach the target of 400 MW by the end of December, also ahead of schedule.
Both new plants are fully financed and fully supplied with both wafer and feedstock for Q4. This will enable the Company to produce 45-50 MW of polysilicon cells and UMG e-Cells internally in Q4. This will be supplemented by solar cells supplied from our long-term solar cell suppliers at competitive prices. In light of these recent developments, the Company is reiterating its top-line revenue and gross margin guidance for 2008 of $850-$970 million and 13%-15%, respectively.
For 2009 the Company believes that it has secured approximately 4,000 Metric tons of UMG, enabling it to produce between 250 and 300 MW of UMG e-cells and e-Module in 2009. We are reiterating our shipment and gross margin guidance for 2009 of 500 - 550 MW and 13 - 15%, respectively.
Chairman and CEO Shawn Qu commented: "Demand remains high for both of our regular high-efficiency modules and our proprietary e-Module products. ASP's are expected to remain stable for the balance of the year and the raw material prices have begun to ease. The increased internal production capacity in Q4 will contribute meaningfully to our gross margins and will help us to reach our revenue and margin targets in spite of volatility in the Euro. Our highly flexible vertical integration model is robust; and has allowed us to quickly adopt to the market dynamics. We expect to be able to continue to meet our objectives for 2009 and are cautiously optimistic that there is upside potential in our '09 estimates."