Saudi Arabia lists 33 pre-qualified bidders for 8 GWh battery storage tender

Majority of the firms applied to provide managing and technical services.

The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has announced that 33 bidders have been pre-qualified for its first group of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects with a total capacity of 2 gigawatts/8 gigawatt-hours.

Aside from Saudi-based companies, other bidders in the list were from countries such as China, South Korea, and Japan.

SPPC said 21 firms applied to provide managing  and technical services, whilst 12 applied for managing only. 

The first batch of projects are the 500 megawatt (MW)/4 hours Al-Muwyah BESS ISPSite in Makkah province; the 500 MW/4 Hrs Haden BESS ISPSite also in Makkah province; the 500 MW/4Hrs Al-Khushaybi BESS ISPSite in Qassim province; and the 500MW/4 Hrs Al-Kahafa BESS ISPSite in Hail province.

These will be under a build-own-operate model, with the successful bidder holding 100% equity in the special purpose vehicle set up to develop and operate the independent storage provider project.