Japan and Canada sign 20 year solar power deal

The world’s third largest solar panel producer has secured a 20 year agreement to supply clean electricity to Japan.

Canadian Solar Inc. announced on Monday it has reached an agreement with Mashiki Town and Kumamoto Prefecture to build what will be their largest power plant on the island of Kyushu.

The solar energy produced will be sold to Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc. under a 20 year feed-in-tariff contract.

The project will produce 57,000 megawatts of clean, solar energy a year.

"We are very pleased to announce this agreement with Mashiki Town and Kumamoto Prefecture," commented Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar Inc.

"The Mashiki solar project is our largest Japanese project to start construction, and represents an important milestone as we continue to make progress developing our high-value solar project pipeline in this important market."

Japan is expected to install 12.7 gigawatts of solar panels this year, up 23 per cent from in 2014. This will make it the biggest market for photovoltaic power after China.