Saudi Arabia has signed agreements for four large-scale battery energy storage projects worth more than SAR4.35 billion ($1.16 billion), while Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has secured $1.2 billion in Korean financing, highlighting the investment required to expand and modernise the kingdom’s power system.
The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), the kingdom’s principal buyer, signed Storage Services Agreements for four projects with combined discharge capacity of 2,000 MW for four hours, equivalent to 8 GWh of storage. The projects form the first group of battery energy storage systems procured under a build-own-operate model.
Three 500-MW projects — Al-Muwyah and Haden in Makkah and Al-Kahafa in Hail — went to a consortium of Saudi Energy Company, ACWA Power and Al Sharif Contracting and Commercial Development. The 500-MW Al-Khushaybi project in Qassim went to a consortium of ENGIE and Haji Abdullah Alireza & Co. Each facility will provide four hours of storage.
Under the original procurement terms, each project company was expected to enter into a 15-year Storage Services Agreement with SPPC.
The awards are part of a substantially larger storage programme. SPPC is advancing a second group of six projects totalling 3,000 MW/12 GWh, taking the first two procurement rounds to 5 GW/20 GWh.
The battery build-out is intended to strengthen grid flexibility as Saudi Arabia targets renewables to account for roughly 50% of electricity generation by 2030, subject to demand growth, increasing the need to balance intermittent solar and wind output.
Separately, the Export-Import Bank of Korea, or KEXIM, announced $1.2 billion in financing support for SEC as the utility invests to meet rising electricity demand and upgrade the kingdom’s network.
The facility forms part of South Korea’s push to use export finance to strengthen economic ties with the Middle East. The funding is intended to facilitate SEC procurement and payment settlements involving Korean companies, supporting Korean contractors and equipment suppliers seeking Saudi power-sector orders.
Although separate transactions, the two developments illustrate the investment demands of Saudi Arabia’s power transition, where growing renewable capacity must be matched by storage and grid expansion.
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