Hithium secures 4 GWh Saudi battery storage deal

Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has awarded contracts for 1 GW/4 GWh of BESS across two sites in Saudi Arabia. China’s Hithium has secured equipment supply and operations-and-maintenance (O&M) roles and Saudi contractor Alfanar Projects will build both facilities. The deal covers the Tabuk-1 and Hail-2 projects and was announced on August 17.

Hithium will supply the storage systems for both plants to the tune of $179 million for Tabuk-1 and $183 million for Hail-2. The company also secured combined O&M contracts worth $1.63 million, giving it a “supply-plus-service” footprint. Alfanar will execute construction under contracts valued at $1.16 million (Tabuk-1) and $1.18 million (Hail-2). The tenders were launched in April 2025 and concluded after a four-month evaluation.

According to the project brief, the systems will prioritize load shifting – charging off-peak and discharging at peak demand hours – to reduce system costs and enhance utilization of renewables. Capacity will also be set aside for grid-support functions such as black start, frequency regulation and voltage control at the point of interconnection.

The 1GW award is part of a broader push to build out large-scale storage in the Kingdom. Earlier this year SEC launched a second phase of storage deployment – 2.5 GW/10 GWh across five regions – with investment exceeding $1.79 billion. In parallel, offtaker Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) is advancing an independent power producer track for storage: Group-1 prequalification for 2 GW of BESS under a build-own-operate model has been issued, with a subsequent request for proposals published in August.

Sector momentum is accelerating. By mid-2025, around 13 GWh of grid-scale BESS were in pipeline or finished construction in Saudi Arabia, with capacity expected to reach 33.5 GWh by 2026, potentially ranking the country third globally behind China and the US, according to cleantech advisory Apricum. This follows major deals including a 12.5 GWh grid-side agreement between SEC and BYD, in addition to earlier projects such as Sungrow’s 7.8 GWh award with AlGihaz.

For Hithium, the SEC win extends a run of overseas orders and partnerships. In January, the company announced a global partnership with Samsung C&T, while this month it agreed a 1 GWh distribution deal with Pakistan’s Imperial Electric Company for residential and commercial storage. Hithium also formed a joint venture in 2024 with Saudi-based MANAT to develop a 5 GWh BESS factory.

The awards land as Hithium climbs industry rankings. InfoLink Consulting’s first-half 2025 league tables place the company second in global energy-storage cell shipments, behind CATL – part of a Chinese clean sweep of the top tier.

SEC’s latest procurements highlight how Riyadh is using both utility-led and IPP structures to accelerate storage deployment in support of Vision 2030 targets. With load-shifting and ancillary-service capability designed into the projects, the Tabuk and Hail systems are intended to firm rising renewable generation while strengthening grid resilience.