APICORP announces funding of UAE Solar Developer: 'Yellow Door Energy'

Environment

APICORP announces funding of UAE Solar Developer: 'Yellow Door Energy'

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 29 January 2019: The Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), a multilateral development bank, yesterday announced its investment towards the Series A shares of Yellow Door Energy, a UAE-based solar power developer. The funds, as part of a consortium of international and regional banks and amounting to a total of USD65m, will enable Yellow Door Energy to scale its investments in solar energy and efficiency solutions in emerging markets and generate 300 megawatts of solar energy over the next two years.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Ahmed Ali Attiga, Chief Executive Officer of APICORP said: The solar energy market still has significant untapped potential within MENA, with companies like Yellow Door Energy achieving major breakthroughs in leveraging opportunities to meet the regions growing demand for power. With a mission to enable the growth of renewable and sustainable energy within the region, APICORP is working to promote further investment into this nascent sector. Aligned to the economic visions of our shareholders, we will continue to focus on alternative energy projects in our portfolio and support the regions transition towards a sustainable energy future.

Jeremy Crane, CEO and Co-Founder of Yellow Door Energy, commented: The funding validates our companys vision of powering emerging economies reliably, efficiently and sustainably. It enables us to scale our energy platform from the Middle East to Africa and Asia. We aim to build 300 megawatts of solar in the next 2 years, benefitting hundreds of businesses and the broader economy. We are excited that prestigious global investors believe in our companys credibility, commitment and customer-centric offerings.

This investment in Yellow Door Energy represents APICORPs first investment in renewables and distributed solar power generation and is one of the larger private placements into commercial and industrial (C&I) solar energy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). APICORP will increase its financing in this sector and enhance the level of private capital infusion within the alternative energy space.

Other investors in the deal include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank member, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui), Equinor Energy Ventures (Equinor) and UAE-based Adenium Energy Capital (Adenium), the founding investor of Yellow Door Energy since 2015.

According to APICORPs research, the planned investments in the power sector in MENA is estimated at USD 187bn for the next five years, of which renewables account for USD 83b. Investors have committed (projects currently under execution) around USD 31b to renewables.