The Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (APICORP) announced that it would provide a $50 million credit facility to SirajPower, a UAE-based distributed solar developer, to expand its portfolio in the Middle East.

APICORP is a Saudi-based multilateral development financial institution. In its press statement, APICORP said that the transaction is the largest lease-funding for distributed solar energy in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The company has also committed $450 million of capital towards renewable energy projects in the past four years, it added.

According to the press release, the funding would allow SirajPower to expand its turnkey rooftop solar solutions across different industries. This, in turn, would also help private sectors reduce their utility bills and carbon footprints significantly on a long-term basis, it added.

“The market is full of potential, and we are gearing up to the next phase of a promising and rapid development across the wider Middle East region. Our partnership with APICORP is a testament not only to the bank’s innovative approach to financing but also to their keen desire to play a key role in the region’s burgeoning green economy,” said Mohammed Abdulghaffar Hussain, Chairman of Siraj Power and Creek Capital.

According to APICORP, it has increased its investments in the renewable energy sector in the past few years. It added that the first investment came in 2017 as the company provided $110 million to Shuaa Energy II to build an 800 MW solar project at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai.

Recently, APICORP signed two agreements with Yellow Door Energy to install a rooftop solar system at its headquarters in Dammam and retrofit the building with energy-efficient technologies. According to the company’s statement, the new fittings were likely to cut APICORP’s carbon emissions by 2,000 tons and generate up to 718 MWh of clean energy and reduce energy consumption by 35%.

Previously, Mercomreported that APICORP signed a strategic five-year Murabaha financing facility worth $75 million with Alfanar, a developer and engineering procurement construction company for clean energy and manufacturer of electrical products.

This article has been edited to correctly reflect that APICORP is a Saudi-based financial institution