Canadian Solar May Profit on Ontario Panel Demand, Rates, iSuppli Says

Canadian Solar Inc., a manufacturer of solar-power modules, will benefit as rules in the Canadian province of Ontario that require local manufacturing will create demand for its products, industry analyst iSuppli said.

Solar installations in Ontario will more than triple in 2010 to 257 megawatts as developers seek to profit from premium prices paid for renewable energy, iSuppli said today in a report. Growth will slow in 2011, rising an estimated 76 percent to 451 megawatts, because of limited local suppliers, it said.

Canadian Solar, which makes most of its products in China and moved its headquarters to Kitchener, Ontario, from Jiangsu, China, last year, plans to complete a module-making facility in the province early next year that will produce 200 megawatts of panels annually.

“The growth of installations in Ontario in 2011 could become supply-constrained, as module and inverter production located in the province will not be sufficient to support the 60 percent content requirement,” Mike Sheppard, an iSuppli analyst based in El Segundo, California, said in the report. “The major beneficiaries of the shortfall will be local solar companies.”

Canadian Solar rose 16 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $11.30 as of 10:01 a.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The shares have dropped 61 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net.

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