(Yicai) Aug. 9 -- A unit of Canadian Solar, an Ontario-based solar panel giant that recently listed a subsidiary in China, has signed a seven-year supply agreement with a big US client.

Canadian Solar USA will provide the customer with at least 4 gigawatts of photovoltaic modules by 2030, which will guarantee the supplier’s long-term stable sales, CSI Solar, the Canadian firm’s China unit, said in a statement yesterday. That could be expanded by 3 GWs, depending on the needs of the client, whose name was not disclosed.

The buyer is a “large overseas customer” with “strong performance capabilities,” said CSI Solar, which owns Canadian Solar USA.

Last year, CSI Solar’s major overseas customers included Goldman Sachs Renewable Power, EDF Renewables Energy, Axium Crimson Holdings, and its controlling shareholder Canadian Solar, according to its listing prospectus submitted in June.

The supplier did not estimate the contract value but based on a recent bid by CSI Solar, prices could range from CNY1.278 to CNY1.348 (18 to 19 US cents) per watt, so the total amount could be around CNY9.4 billion (USD1.3 billion), based on data from PV-Info.

Suzhou-based CSI Solar is one of the largest solar panel suppliers in China with its annual capacity of 32.2 GW as of Dec. 31, 2022.

The Suzhou-based company is still expanding its production capacity. Last month, the firm said it will invest CNY18 billion (USD2.5 billion) building the first phase of a base in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to make 10 GW of solar cells and five GW of PV modules. It should ready by September 2024. 

CSI Solar [SHA: 688472] rose by 3.8 percent to close at CNY15.89 (USD2.20) a share in Shanghai today. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.5 percent.

Editor: Emmi Laine