The Ras al-Khaimah Investment & Development Office (IDO) is preparing to issue expressions of interest (EOI) for a planned rooftop solar independent power producer (IPP) project.

According to sources close to the project, the client is preparing to issue the EOI “within the next few weeks”.

The project has faced some delays, with the client having originally intended to invite expressions of interest before the end of April and was targeting to have issued request for proposals (RFPs) in May. IDO was originally planning to sign project agreements in December, with financial close planned for February 2018. With the initial targets having been missed, the project award and financial close may also be delayed accordingly.

The first phase of the emirate’s rooftop solar programme will involve 30-50MW of photovoltaic (PV) solar panel systems being fitted to government and private rooftops.

The capacity will be split between 25-30 sites, which will primarily be industrial and commercial buildings. The programme will be developed under a build-own-operate (BOO) or build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) model.

The client has appointed India’s Synergy Consulting as financial adviser, UK’s Eversheds as legal adviser and Netherlands-based DNV as technical adviser.