Saudi Arabia has been making huge strides in renewable energy, and it is complementing them with a battery energy storage system that will be the biggest in the world. The Gulf nation has awarded the contract to build the energy system to Huawei.
In turn, Huawei will partner with fellow Chinese company SEPCO111 on the Red Sea Project.
When completed, the battery energy storage system will have a storage capacity of 1,300 MWh and be hooked up to a 400 MW solar farm that local company ACWA Power is building.
Huawei has installed more than 8 GWh of battery system globally and will bank on its experience to deliver the project.
Saudi Arabia has selected a site for the project in NEOM, in the Tabuk Province. It is part of the nation’s plan to make NOEM a smart city. NOEM is entirely built from scratch and will rely completely on renewable energy like solar and green hydrogen.
This project is a good development for a country that is heavily dependent on revenue from hydrocarbon fuels. It shows Saudi Arabia’s seriousness about shifting to renewable energy both in its power generation and economy.
“This 1300 MWh off-grid energy storage project is the largest of its kind in the world and represents a milestone in the global energy storage industry,” Huawei said in a statement.
Dubai is building an 8.61 MWh energy storage system in the same region through its Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). The project is located at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park and uses Tesla’s lithium-ion batteries.
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