EV and BESS firm BYD has agreed a major order from the Saudi Electricity Company, the state utility and transmission & distribution (T&D) system operator of Saudi Arabia.
BYD has signed contracts with Saudi Electric Company totalling 12.5GWh which, combined with a previously delivered 2.6GWh project, bring its total co-operation with the company to 15.1GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS).
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The 12.5GWh of BESS technology from BYD will be installed at five sites across Saudi Arabia, using the firm’s MC Cube-T ESS product, its latest grid-scale product. BYD also manufactures its own battery cells, and claims the MC Cube-T ESS’s leading ‘Vcts (proportion of cell volume to system volume)’ index exceeds 33%, allowing for ultra-high energy density.
The projects will integrate into Saudi Arabia’s power system, helping to integrate renewable energy, stabilise power supply and meet peak energy demand. Saudi Arabia is targeting 50% renewables by 2030 as part of a wider modernisation of the economy under the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 programme, for which it will need 48GWh of BESS.
The previously-delivered 2.6GWh project cited is the Bisha BESS, the commissioning of which was announced in January by engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm PowerChina Hubei Engineering.
It isn’t clear if the projects that BYD’s BESS will go to are previously-announced ones or not. A separate body, the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), recently announced the shortlisted EPC bidders for a 2GW/8GWh set of four projects. To get to the 48GWh figure, the country will need several different projects of that scale.
Another Chinese firm, inverter and BESS manufacturer Sungrow, has landed large-scale orders in Saudi too, for 600MWh in 2022 and 760MWh in 2024.
Neighbouring UAE recently picked suppliers for what has been claimed as the world’s largest BESS project, choosing the world’s largest lithium-ion OEM, CATL, to supply the 19GWh of BESS units.
BYD has also provided the bulk of BESS for what had previously been claimed as the world’s largest BESS, Grenergy’s 4.1GWh Oasis de Atacama project in Chile.
