Saudi Storage Agreements Add 2,000MW To Battery Pipeline
SPPC signed four battery-storage service agreements worth more than SR4.35 billion, opening Saudi Arabia’s first group of independent storage-provider projects as a larger second phase moves toward October bids.
Saudi Power Procurement Company signed four battery-storage service agreements with a combined capacity of 2,000MW, MEED reported, giving Saudi Arabia its first group of independent storage-provider projects under a build, own and operate model.
The agreements pair the 2,000MW capacity figure with four hours of storage, equal to 8,000 megawatt-hours.
Total investment is more than SR4.35 billion, or $1.16 billion, and the projects are supervised by the Energy Ministry.
Saudi Power Procurement Company is using the contracts to procure storage as a service rather than as simple equipment purchases.
Each project sits inside the independent storage provider structure, and the winning bidders will own 100% of a special purpose vehicle that enters a storage services agreement with SPPC.
Saudi Energy, Acwa and Al-Sharif Contracting & Commercial Development Company secured three of the four Group 1 projects.
Those awards cover Al-Muwyah and Haden in the Mecca region and Al-Kahafa in the Hail region, with each project sized at 500MW for four hours.
Engie of France and Saudi firm Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co secured the remaining Group 1 project, Al-Khushaybi in the Qassim region.
It also carries 500MW of capacity for four hours, keeping the first group at four equal storage blocks.
The storage awards sit beside Saudi Arabia’s target of an electricity generation mix comprising about 50% renewable energy by 2030.
Battery storage supports that target by giving the power system a way to hold renewable output for later dispatch, while the procurement model gives SPPC long-term contracted capacity from project companies.
A second phase is already in motion.
SPPC issued request for proposals for Group 2 in July, covering six more independent storage provider projects with total capacity of 3GW, equivalent to 12,000MWh on the same four-hour duration basis.
Group 2 spans Samha in Qassim, Al-Leeth in Mecca, Al-Henakiyah in Medina, Khulis in Mecca, Sadawi in the Eastern Province and Ashyrah in Mecca.
Each project is listed at 500MW, mirroring the unit size used in Group 1 and extending the same storage duration across a larger second procurement round.
A source identified in the MEED account placed developers at the clarification stage as they prepare bids before an October deadline.
Up to 27 firms had prequalified for the second phase after SPPC received statements of qualification on 13 May, with likely bidders including Masdar, Acwa, EDF, Kepco, Engie and Marubeni.
Synergy Consulting is advising SPPC on both the Group 1 and Group 2 energy-storage programmes, leaving the next procurement milestone with the October bid deadline for the larger 3GW second phase.
