Saudi Arabia shortlists 27 consortia for its second 3 GW/12 GWh storage tender — the largest BESS procurement program outside China

Saudi Arabia's state-owned single buyer, the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), has prequalified 27 local and international companies to bid for its second round of utility-scale battery energy storage projects — six Independent Storage Provider (ISP) projects totalling 3 GW/12 GWh, each rated 500 MW/2,000 MWh with four hours of discharge. The qualification round, launched in late April 2026, closed on 5 May, with the 27-strong shortlist announced on 30 June 2026.

The six projects are Samha BESS in Qassim province; Al-Leeth, Khulis and Ashyrah BESS in Makkah province; Al-Henakiyah BESS in Madinah province; and Sadawi BESS in the Eastern Province. Every project will be delivered under a build-own-operate (BOO) structure: the winning consortium holds 100% equity in the special purpose vehicle, and each SPV signs a long-term Storage Services Agreement (SSA) with SPPC as Principal Buyer. SPPC has not disclosed the SSA term for this round; its first storage tender set a 15-year precedent.

The shortlist reads as a map of who intends to own Saudi storage: Masdar, ACWA Power, EDF, TotalEnergies, Marubeni, Sumitomo, KEPCO and Korea Western Power among international utilities and developers; China Southern Power Grid International, POWERCHINA, SPIC Shanghai Electric Power and China Longyuan Power Group among Chinese entrants; alongside Saudi names such as Alfanar, Nesma Renewable Energy and Saudi Energy Company. Notably, Hefei Gotion High-Tech and Tesla Motors Netherlands qualified exclusively as Technical Members — a cell-and-system supplier posture rather than an ownership play. Equipment procurement follows award, and no suppliers have been disclosed for this round.

The round scales up a procurement program that began in November 2024 with 2 GW/8 GWh across four projects, for which 33 companies were prequalified. It also follows the kingdom's largest single storage milestone to date: in December 2025, state utility Saudi Electricity Company completed grid connection of a 7.8 GWh BESS portfolio — three 2.6 GWh sites at Najran, Khamis Mushait and Madaya, each connected at 380 kV, delivered by Saudi contractor Algihaz Holding under a full turnkey EPC contract.

Saudi Arabia targets 48 GWh of installed battery storage by 2030 as part of Vision 2030 and the National Renewable Energy Program's goal of 50% renewables in the power mix. With the first ISP round (2 GW/8 GWh) and the SEC portfolio (7.8 GWh) already committed, this tender moves the pipeline past the halfway mark — and establishes the ISP/SSA structure as the kingdom's standard template for merchant-grade storage investment.