KITCHENER – Canadian Solar Inc. has entered a partnership to develop two large solar parks in Ontario.

The Kitchener-based manufacturer of solar cells and modules announced Monday that its subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions, has signed an engineering, procurement and construction agreement with SkyPower Ltd. to build solar parks in Napanee and Thunder Bay.

The park in Napanee is expected to generate 10 megawatts of power while the park in Thunder Bay is expected to generate 8.5 megawatts of power.

Between them, they will produce enough electricity to provide power to almost 33,000 homes, Canadian Solar and SkyPower said.

Construction of both parks is expected to be completed by the middle of next year, the companies said in a news release.

Toronto-based SkyPower arranged financing for the projects through Deutsche Bank.

Canadian Solar is headquartered in Kitchener, but most of its manufacturing operations are in China.

It is setting up a plant in Guelph to produce solar modules for the Ontario market. The plant is expected to employ 500 people when it reaches full production next year.

Canadian Solar says the plant will have the annual capacity to produce modules that can generate 200 megawatts a power.