On January 28, 2019, a signing ceremony was held to commemorate the Share Subscription Agreement between Mitsui & Co., Ltd., ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Tatsuo Yasunaga) and Yellow Door Energy Limited ("YDE", CEO: Jeremy Crane), a company which provides solar leases and energy savings contracts to commercial and industrial customers in the Middle East. The Share Subscription Agreement was signed along with other global investors.
YDE is a solar developer, which designs, installs, owns and operates solar power plants on unused premises of its C&I (commercial and industry) customers. YDE operates and maintains the solar plants under a long-term contract, and with its approximately 20 existing customers in the UAE and Jordan, they are the market leader in the Middle East. Under this agreement, Mitsui will participate in the Series A funding for YDE with USD 65 million capital increase through a third-party allocation of shares to five investors to support the company's aim of expanding business beyond the Middle East and into Africa. YDE aims to build 300MW of solar power generation facilities over the next two years. Mitsui will support YDE's business expansion and service enhancement by utilizing its power generation business know-how in the C&I field, accumulated through its investment track records in the Americas.
Amid an increase in demand for electricity in the Middle East due to continued economic growth in the region, countries are continuing to reduce government subsidies to the electricity sector to reduce their financial burdens. Through the use of solar power, YDE will contribute to the sustainable energy transition in the Middle East by not only reducing electricity costs for customers, but also promoting power generation by the private sector.
While maintaining its foundations in the large-scale IPP business, Mitsui is proactively working to develop new business such as distributed power generation and energy management services. Through this project, we will continue to pursue new infrastructure business opportunities in the Middle East and Africa.
