Canadian Solar, a PV module manufacturer and PV project developer, and its EPC partner Mortenson Construction have started to build a 2.5MW PV solar project in Laurinburg, North Carolina, US. The project is scheduled to complete in December 2012.

The PV system was developed by Birdseye Renewable Energy and will be situated over 10 acres of land. Canadian Solar owns the project and is responsible for overall project delivery while Mortenson Construction will be responsible for the design and engineering services as well as the installation of PV modules supplied by Canadian Solar.

Commenting on the appointment of Mortenson Construction, Noah Eckert, director of commercial and utility-scale markets, Canadian Solar, said "The Laurinburg Solar Farm marks an important milestone for Canadian Solar in the United States. Canadian Solar's goal is to support our customers and partners to bring utility-scale projects to completion. In that vein, we selected Mortenson Construction, a well-regarded and experienced construction firm focused on delivering the highest quality service, to design and build the project."

When complete, the PV system will generate an output of approximately 3,483 MWh every year.

Initially just a PV module manufacturer and supplier, Canadian Solar expanded into project development and believes it provides an opportunity for continued growth. The company estimates that its project solutions revenue will make up 25% of its total revenue in 2012 compared with approximately 10% in 2011.

In the month of August, Canadian Solar agreed to build two PV power plants for Penn Energy Renewables. In the same month, it also announced that it had sold a utility-scale PV power plant to Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, and supplied over 8MW of PV modules for use in groSolar PV projects.