By: Utilities Middle east

The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), acting as principal buyer, has launched the qualification process for the second group of Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) projects, comprising six developments across the Kingdom.

The process is being conducted under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy.

Each project will be delivered under a build-own-operate (BOO) model, with the selected consortium holding full equity in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) established to develop and operate the Independent Storage Provider (ISP) project.

Each SPV will enter into a Storage Services Agreement with SPPC.

The total capacity of the second group of BESS projects stands at 3,000MW, with a four-hour storage duration equivalent to 12,000MWh.

The six projects include:

• 500MW Samha BESS in Qassim Region
• 500MW Al-Leeth BESS in Makkah Region
• 500MW Al-Henakiyah BESS in Madinah Region
• 500MW Khulis BESS in Makkah Region
• 500MW Sadawi BESS in Eastern Region
• 500MW Ashyrah BESS in Makkah Region

As part of the broader qualification process, SPPC has also opened applications for future solar photovoltaic, wind and energy storage projects to be tendered at a later stage.

The programme forms part of the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), which targets increasing the share of renewable energy and storage in the national energy mix to around 50% by 2030, subject to demand growth.