Saudi Arabia has initiated a qualification process for its first set of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, aiming for 48 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) of storage capacity by 2030.

The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), under the Ministry of Energy, initiated qualification process on 4 November 2024 for four BESS projects as part of 'Group 1 Battery Energy Storage Services Projects'. 

These projects will be developed under Build-Own-Operate (BOO) concessions, with the successful bidder holding 100 per cent equity in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up to develop and operate the Independent Storage Provider (ISP) project. 

The SPVs will enter into a 15-year Storage Services Agreement (SSA) with SPPC.

'Group 1 Battery Energy Storage Services Projects' will have a combined capacity of 2,000 megawatts (MW) and deliver a total of 8,000 MWh when operating for 4 hours at full capacity, according to SPPC's qualification invite.

Deails are as follows: 

  • The 500MW/4Hrs Al-Muwyah BESS ISP in Makkah province.
  • The 500MW/4Hrs Haden BESS ISP in Makkah province.
  • The 500MW/4Hrs Al-Khushaybi BESS ISP in Qassim province.
  • The 500MW/4Hrs Al-Kahafa BESS ISP in Hail province.

The deadline to submit statements of qualification is 25 November 2024 by 12:00 pm.

Last week, Minister of Energy, Abdulaziz bin Salman had revealed that the Kingdom is seeking to establish significant battery energy storage capacity as part of a plan to strengthen and expand its electricity infrastructure.

"We have already signed 26 GWh of batteries and by 2030, we will be doing 48GWh," he said while speaking at the Future Investment Initiative (FII8) in Riyadh.

(Writing by Deva Palanisamy; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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