Saudi Energy Company and ACWA Power have signed agreements with Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) covering three battery energy storage projects with a combined value of SAR3.25bn ($867m).
The Storage Services Agreements were signed on 20 August and cover the Al-Muwaih, Kahafah and Haden independent storage projects. Each facility will have capacity of 500MW/2,000MWh, giving the three projects combined capacity of 1,500MW and 6,000MWh.
The Al-Muwaih project in Makkah Province is valued at about SAR1.06bn, while Kahafah in Hail Province is valued at approximately SAR1.07bn and Haden, also in Makkah Province, at about SAR1.12bn.
Saudi Energy holds an effective 35.1% interest in each project, while ACWA Power is a consortium partner.
The agreements form part of the first group of Saudi Arabia’s independent battery energy storage programme, which comprises four projects with total capacity of 2GW/8GWh and investment exceeding SAR4.35bn ($1.16bn).
The fourth project, Al Khushaybi in Qassim, has been awarded separately to a consortium comprising France’s ENGIE and Saudi Arabia’s Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co.
The awards underline the rapid emergence of utility-scale battery storage as a major new procurement market in Saudi Arabia, creating opportunities for international battery manufacturers, power-conversion and energy-management system suppliers, electrical equipment companies and specialist EPC contractors.