Saudi Arabia took another leap in its large-scale storage deployment with the award of four BESS projects totaling 2 GW/8 GWh , as part of the strategy with which the country aims to reach 48 GWh by the end of this decade .
The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) signed 15-year storage service agreements, with joint investments exceeding 4.35 billion Saudi riyals, approximately US$1.16 billion . Each facility will have a capacity of 500 MW, 2000 MWh, and a four-hour operating life.
The award is also the first for independent battery projects tendered by the Saudi Government under the Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model, in which developers will build, own and operate the assets.
Three of the contracts were awarded to a consortium made up of Saudi Energy, ACWA Power and Al Sharif Contracting and Commercial Development Company , while the fourth will be developed by ENGIE together with Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co. Ltd.
The awarded projects correspond to the first group of independent storage launched by SPPC in November 2024 and supervised by the Ministry of Energy.
Two of the ACWA Power consortium's facilities, Haden and Al-Muwayh , will be located in the Mecca province. The third, Al-Khahfah , will be developed in Hail, in the north of the country.
Between the three of them they will add up to 1.5 GW/6 GWh , that is, three-quarters of the capacity contracted in this first round.
The fourth asset will be Al-Khushaybi , with a capacity of 500 MW/2000 MWh, awarded to the consortium formed by ENGIE and Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co. Ltd. and located in the province of Qassim.
ENGIE estimated the investment associated with this latest development at approximately USD 220 million . The French company has had a presence in Saudi Arabia for over two decades and, according to the information provided, has approximately 4.7 GW of BESS systems operational worldwide.
Competition for the first contracts had attracted some of the major international energy players. In January 2025, it was reported that 33 companies had submitted applications in the prequalification process, including Masdar, ACWA Power, EDF, and TotalEnergies.
To participate, SPPC established requirements for both experience in renewable energy and/or storage and financial capacity, including minimum thresholds of tangible net worth.
The projects ultimately selected must bring flexibility to the Saudi electricity system and support the growing incorporation of renewable generation, storing electricity to deliver it when grid conditions require it.
The strategy is part of Saudi Vision 2030 , under which the country aims to have renewable sources approach 50% of its electricity mix by the end of the decade .
Another 12 GWh are already progressing in a second round
The first 8 GWh awarded will not be an isolated development. SPPC has already launched a second group of independent projects that will significantly increase the volume of batteries contracted through this scheme.
The next round includes six installations of 500 MW/2000 MWh each , again with a duration of four hours. Together they represent another 3 GW/12 GWh .
In July 2026, the Saudi company had pre-qualified 27 participants to compete for these assets.
If both groups materialize, the two rounds would together represent 5 GW of power and 20 GWh of energy capacity , a significant portion of Saudi Arabia's goal of reaching 48 GWh by the end of the decade.
This acceleration is already beginning to be reflected in international statistics. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Saudi Arabia led the world in grid-scale storage additions measured in GWh in July .
The country would have brought 2.5 GW/12.5 GWh online during that month, equivalent to 37.3% of the 33.4 GWh added globally. China, in comparison, reached 3.7 GW/10 GWh.
The volume of projects is also growing rapidly. By the beginning of 2026, Saudi Arabia had already accumulated around 37 GWh of announced BESS capacity, including projects under operation, construction, and contracting processes , according to the figures provided.