DLA Piper has been appointed by the Renewable Energy Project Development Office of Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources to advise on round one of its National Renewable Energy Program (NREP).

The NREP is the official plan for the 9.5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy deployment that the Saudi Arabian government announced for Vision 2030, with the interim target of 3.45GW of renewable energy power capacity to be deployed by 2020 under the Kingdom's National Transformation Program.

Round one will see RFQs issued this month for the development of a 300 megawatt (MW) solar project and a 400 MW wind project in the northwest of the country. RFPs are expected to be issued in April with the  projects expected to be awarded in October.

The DLA Piper team will be led by Dr Eyad Reda (Country Managing Partner, Saudi Arabia) and UAE-based, Trevor Butcher (Head of Projects & Finance, Middle East) and Keith Bullen (Senior Legal Consultant, Dubai) and resourced with lawyers from the firm's GCC network.

Commenting on the appointment, Dr Eyad Reda said "We are delighted to have been selected by the Ministry to advise on what is one of the most significant and important projects in Saudi Arabia. The NREP directly aligns with the Kingdom's ambition to establish its position as one of the world's leading suppliers of energy and we are proud to play a key role in this."

Trevor Butcher added "Energy is a key sector  for DLA Piper and our appointment is a testament to the strength of our regional and global offering. We are currently advising on the procurement of more than 12GW of power and 2,600,000 m3/day of desalinated water projects across the GCC and look forward to bringing our experience to bear in our role for the Ministry."