Dubai solar company SirajPower secures $50m credit from Apicorp

The funding will allow SirajPower to expand its business across various sectors, helping businesses to reduce their utility bills

Apicorp’s office in Dammam. The lender is seeking to invest more in renewables​​​​​​​​​​​​​​. Courtesy of Apicorp.

Dubai renewable energy company SirajPower signed a $50 million (Dh183.6m) long-term, non-recourse credit facility deal with Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation to expand its distributed solar business.

The scheme will be the GCC’s “largest lease-funding platform for distributed solar energy” and will allow companies to reduce their utility bills and carbon footprint significantly.

Distributed solar energy refers to power generated from the sun using rooftop set-ups, as opposed to centralised large-scale generation of solar power.

“Bringing on board Apicorp is a fundamental step in validating the quality of work that we have been delivering over the past five years in the UAE and opening the door for continued expansion in other markets and geographies,” said SirajPower chief executive Laurent Longuet.

SirajPower, which was established by family owned investment company Corys Environment, has a portfolio of solar rooftoop projects with a capacity of 50-megawatt peak currently under lease.

Megawatt peak is a term used in solar photovoltaic schemes to describe the facility’s nominal power.

The adoption of distributed solar energy is part of the UAE’s strategy to boost its clean energy capacity.

The country intends to derive 44 per cent of its power requirements from clean energy by 2050. The remaining 38 per cent will come from gas, 12 per cent from clean coal and 6 per cent from nuclear sources.

Mohammed Hussain, chairman of SirajPower and Creek Capital, said the company was preparing for its next phase of rapid development across the Middle East.

Squire Patton Boggs acted as Apicorp’s legal adviser while kiloWattsol and Indecs Consulting were technical and insurance advisers, respectively.