Saudi Arabia is embarking on its first Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects through a Public-Private Partnership model, targeting an ambitious 48 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) storage capacity by 2030.
The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), under the Ministry of Energy, has launched the qualification process for four BESS projects, termed ‘Group 1 Battery Energy Storage Services Projects’, as of early November 2024.
These projects will follow a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model, allowing the successful bidder to fully own the special purpose vehicle (SPV) developed for the Independent Storage Provider (ISP) project. Each SPV will sign a 15-year Storage Services Agreement (SSA) with SPPC.
The combined capacity of these projects will be 2,000 megawatts (MW), producing a total of 8,000 MWh when running at full capacity for four hours, according to SPPC’s guidelines.
- 500MW/4Hrs Al-Muwyah BESS ISP in Makkah province
- 500MW/4Hrs Haden BESS ISP in Makkah province
- 500MW/4Hrs Al-Khushaybi BESS ISP in Qassim province
- 500MW/4Hrs Al-Kahafa BESS ISP in Hail province
Interested parties must submit their qualifications by 25 November 2024, 12:00 pm.
Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman recently highlighted Saudi Arabia’s commitment to bolstering its electricity infrastructure with substantial battery energy storage. Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, he noted, We have already signed 26 GWh of batteries and by 2030, we will be doing 48GWh.
