A waste-management firm in the United Arab Emirates has a novel idea for a disused garbage landfill: convert it into a solar-power farm.

The project, the first of its kind in the Persian Gulf, would produce more than 42 megawatts a year, the government-backed company Bee’ah said in a statement. Bee’ah, which means environment in Arabic, plans to build the solar farm on 47 hectares (116 acres) of closed landfill in the emirate of Sharjah, near Dubai.

The facility will reduce Sharjah’s dependence on fossil fuels while making productive use of a site that would typically require years of environmental remediation before it could be redeveloped, the company said. Closed landfills contain garbage but are no longer usable for waste disposal.

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The UAE, which holds about 6% of global crude reserves, aims to spend 600 billion dirhams ($163 billion) by 2050 on what it calls clean-energy projects. The OPEC member targets meeting half of its energy needs from sources other than fossil fuels — including solar, wind and nuclear power — by then.

A group including Electricite de France SA and Jinko Power Technology Co. signed a deal on Sunday to build a two-gigawatt solar facility in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Neighboring Dubai is building a solar park designed to produce five gigawatts by 2030.