Saudi Arabia qualifies 27 companies for second BESS tender

Saudi Power Procurement Co. said it has prequalified 27 developers and technology providers for the second group of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects. The total capacity across “Group 2” is 12,000 MWh.

Twenty-seven companies qualified, spanning Chinese, European, Middle Eastern, and East Asian players. The list includes major international developers such as Masdar, ACWA Power, EDF, and TotalEnergies Renewables, alongside Marubeni, Sumitomo, and Tesla Motors Netherlands.

The Chinese participants include China Longyuan Power Group, China Southern Power Grid International, Power Construction Corp. of China, SPIC Shanghai Electric Power, and Hefei Gotion High-Tech Power Energy.

Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Western Power represent South Korean utilities, while Malaysia’s TNB Power Generation and TNB Renewables also qualified.

The Saudi firms on the list include Al Jomaih Energy and Water, Alfanar, Nesma Renewable Energy, and Saudi Energy Co. European entrants beyond EDF and TotalEnergies include Spain’s Cox Energy EPC and Grupo Empresarial Enhol.

Rounding out the group are Envision Energy, International Power S.A. (IPSA), acting through its Dubai branch, Nextgen, Pro-Power Investment, and WahajPeak Holdings.

Previous SPPC procurement materials have described the “Group 2” tender as six 500 MW/2,000 MWh projects under a build-own-operate structure at the Samha, Al-Leeth, Al-Henakiyah, Khulis, Sadawi, and Ashyrah sites.

“Group 1,” an earlier BESS procurement round, prequalified 33 companies. No award or financial close for that tender round has been publicly disclosed.