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SUMMARY OF PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES - Project assets (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions | 12 Months Ended
--- | ---
Dec. 31, 2016 | Dec. 31, 2015
Project assets |  |
Solar power systems reclassified to project assets-current | $ 1,202.1 | $ 111.3
Solar power systems reclassified to project assets-non-current | $ 160.0 | $ 2.8
Buildings |  |
Property, plant and equipment |  |
Estimated useful lives | 20 years |
Machinery | Minimum |  |
Property, plant and equipment |  |
Estimated useful lives | 5 years |
Machinery | Maximum |  |
Property, plant and equipment |  |
Estimated useful lives | 10 years |
Furniture, fixtures and equipment |  |
Property, plant and equipment |  |
Estimated useful lives | 5 years |
Motor vehicles |  |
Property, plant and equipment |  |
Estimated useful lives | 5 years |
Solar power systems | Minimum |  |
Property, plant and equipment |  |
Estimated useful lives | 20 years |
Solar power systems | Maximum |  |
Property, plant and equipment |  |
Estimated useful lives | 25 years |

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- References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Represents the amount of solar power systems reclassified to current project assets. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Represents the amount of solar power systems reclassified to non-current project assets. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Details
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- Details
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