Survey respondents also ranked Canadian Solar as the #1 most purchased brand and #1 most recommended brand of solar modules.

GUELPH, Ontario, Jan. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Canadian Solar Inc. (the "Company", or "Canadian Solar") (NASDAQ: CSIQ), one of the world's largest solar power companies, today announced that it is ranked #1 module supplier in terms of module quality and price/performance ratio in IHS Markit's independent PV Module Customer Insight Survey 2016. High quality and price/performance ratio were identified as the top two reasons for recommending solar module brands.

Survey respondents also ranked Canadian Solar as the #1 most purchased brand and #1 most recommended brand of solar modules.

IHS Markit ran its annual solar survey between August and November 2016, and surveyed PV module buyers such as installers, integrators, and distributors throughout the world.

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Solar, commented, "We are honored to see our dedication to product quality and customer value reflected in PV module buyers' responses to IHS Markit's survey. Since its inception in 2001, Canadian Solar has unwaveringly placed product quality as its #1 objective in its operation. Thanks to our first customer in 2002, Audi-Volkswagan, we have applied automotive industry quality management system in our production since 2003 when we were certified for ISO 16949. Our quality control starts from where our BOM materials are produced. We believe the best marketing comes from consistently delivering the highest quality product with the best product value to enable customers to achieve their highest investment return. Canadian Solar has delivered close to 18 GW of solar modules around the world. We will continue to work hard to supply our customers around the world the best quality and price performance modules."

About Canadian Solar Inc.

Founded in 2001 in Canada, Canadian Solar is one of the world's largest and foremost solar power companies. As a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules and provider of solar energy solutions, Canadian Solar also has a geographically diversified pipeline of utility-scale power projects in various stages of development. In the past 16 years, Canadian Solar has successfully delivered over 17 GW of premium quality modules to over 90 countries around the world. Furthermore, Canadian Solar is one of the most bankable companies in the solar industry, having been publicly listed on NASDAQ since 2006. For additional information about the company, follow Canadian Solar on LinkedIn or visit www.canadiansolar.com.

Safe Harbor/Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release regarding the Company's expected future shipment volumes, gross margins, business prospects and future results, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These statements are made under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by such terms as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," the negative of these terms, or other comparable terminology. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include general business and economic conditions and the state of the solar industry; governmental support for the deployment of solar power; future available supplies of high-purity silicon; demand for end-use products by consumers and inventory levels of such products in the supply chain; changes in demand from significant customers; changes in demand from major markets such as Japan, the U.S., India and China; changes in customer order patterns; changes in product mix; capacity utilization; level of competition; pricing pressure and declines in average selling prices; delays in new product introduction; delays in utility-scale project approval process; delays in utility-scale project construction; cancelation of utility-scale feed-in-tariff contracts in Japan; continued success in technological innovations and delivery of products with the features customers demand; shortage in supply of materials or capacity requirements; availability of financing; exchange rate fluctuations; litigation and other risks as described in the Company's SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 20-F filed on April 20, 2016. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, level of activity, performance, or achievements. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. All information provided in this press release is as of today's date, unless otherwise stated, and Canadian Solar undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.