A list of pre-qualified bidders has been published in the first procurement of battery energy storage system (BESS) resources by the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC).
The state-owned SPPC announced the list earlier this week (30 December) for its forthcoming 2GW/8GWh build-own-operate (BOO) tender.
It includes big names from the Middle East region and overseas, such as Dubai-headquartered Masdar and Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, France’s EDF and TotalEnergies, and major players in renewable energy and battery storage from China, South Korea, and Japan, among others.
In total, 33 bidders qualified: 21 applied to provide technologies and manage BESS facilities, and the remaining 12 applied only to manage assets.
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The full list can be seen here (PDF).
SPPC was established by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2017 as the Principal Buyer of electricity, capacity, and system services under the supervision of the country’s Ministry of Energy.
To date, it has signed deals for several gigawatts of solar PV and wind through competitive solicitations, as well as for other technologies, including combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) and water infrastructure.
The state-owned limited liability company began the qualification process for its maiden battery storage procurement in early November, as reported by Energy-Storage.news.
Winning bidders will enter 15-year Storage Services contracts with SPPC for four battery storage projects, each of 500MW/2,000MWh output and storage capacity as set out in the table below. Bidders will retain 100% equity in their projects in special purpose vehicle (SPV) companies.
| Project name | Output | Capacity | Location |
| Al-Muwyah BESS | 500MW | 2000MWh (4-hour) | Makkah province |
| Haden BESS | 500MW | 2000MWh (4-hour) | Makkah province |
| Al-Khushaybi BESS | 500MW | 2000MWh (4-hour) | Qassim province |
| Al-Kahafa BESS | 500MW | 2000MWh (4-hour) | Hail province |
Saudi Arabia targets sourcing around 50% of its power generation from renewable sources through its Vision 2030 policy strategy. According to recently reported remarks from energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud from an event held in the Kingdom, the country is targeting the deployment of 48GWh of battery storage by the end of this decade.
