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VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2019
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES  
VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES

10. VARIABLE INTEREST ENTITIES

Since 2016, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, CSE Japan Investment Company Limited, entered into silent partnership agreements with various Japan project companies, for the purpose of raising project finance bonds arranged by Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd. Under the silent partnership agreements, the project entities are considered VIEs in which the Company has no equity interests, but is entitled to substantially all of the economic interests of the projects. In addition, the Company has the power to make decisions over the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of the projects under the asset management agreement signed simultaneously between the project companies and Canadian Solar Project K.K, a subsidiary of the Group. As such, the Company concluded it was the primary beneficiary of the project companies and thus these project companies were accounted for as consolidated VIEs since their establishment.

As of December 31, 2018 and 2019, the carrying amounts and classifications of the consolidated VIEs’ major assets and liabilities with immaterial items combined, excluding intercompany balances which are eliminated upon consolidation, included in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet are as follows:

    

At December 31,

    

At December 31,

2018

2019

$

$

Project assets

185,448

197,366

Other assets

21,836

26,102

Total assets

207,284

223,468

Short-term borrowings

9,160

139,708

Long-term borrowings

113,973

Other liabilities

59,476

66,569

Total liabilities

182,609

206,277

Net income and overall cash flow activities during the year are immaterial to the consolidated financial statements.