The Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) has awarded contracts for the development of 1,000 MW of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) to support the Kingdom’s energy infrastructure expansion.
The projects, sited across the regions of Tabuk in the west and Hail in the central region of Saudi Arabia, will bolster grid flexibility and reliability.
Under the agreements, Xiamen Hithium Energy Storage will assume responsibility for supplying BESS equipment. Its contracts comprise SAR 671.7 million (approximately $179.0 million) for the Tabuk installation and SAR 686.35 million (about $182.9 million) for Hail.
Separately, Alfanar Projects has secured the construction contracts, valued at SAR 436.464 million (roughly $116.3 million) for Tabuk and SAR 441.013 million (nearly $117.6 million) for Hail. A further contract for maintenance services across both sites was also awarded to Xiamen Hithium, valued at SAR 6.1 million (just over $1.6 million).
SEC had received bids for these BESS projects in April 2025. The systems are designed not only for load-shifting but also to support black start operations, frequency regulation, and voltage stability through flexible dispatch of their installed capacity at the point of grid interconnection.
This round of contract awards follows SEC’s earlier dispatch in January 2025, when it commissioned BESS schemes totalling 2,500 MW/10,000 MWh across the country.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has issued a Request for Qualification (RFQ) for a further 2,000 MW of BESS capacity under a build–own–operate (BOO) model.
