BYD lands massive 12.5GWh deal with Saudi Electricity Company

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The 12.5GWh of BESS technology from BYD will be installed at five sites across Saudi Arabia, using the firm’s MC Cube-T ESS product, its latest grid-scale product. BYD also manufactures its own battery cells, and claims the MC Cube-T ESS’s leading ‘Vcts (proportion of cell volume to system volume)’ index exceeds 33%, allowing for ultra-high energy density.

The projects will integrate into Saudi Arabia’s power system, helping to integrate renewable energy, stabilise power supply and meet peak energy demand. Saudi Arabia is targeting 50% renewables by 2030 as part of a wider modernisation of the economy under the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 programme, for which it will need 48GWh of BESS.

The previously-delivered 2.6GWh project cited is the Bisha BESS, the commissioning of which was announced in January by engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm PowerChina Hubei Engineering.

It isn’t clear if the projects that BYD’s BESS will go to are previously-announced ones or not. A separate body, the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), recently announced the shortlisted EPC bidders for a 2GW/8GWh set of four projects. To get to the 48GWh figure, the country will need several different projects of that scale.

Another Chinese firm, inverter and BESS manufacturer Sungrow, has landed large-scale orders in Saudi too, for 600MWh in 2022 and 760MWh in 2024.

Neighbouring UAE recently picked suppliers for what has been claimed as the world’s largest BESS project, choosing the world’s largest lithium-ion OEM, CATL, to supply the 19GWh of BESS units.

BYD has also provided the bulk of BESS for what had previously been claimed as the world’s largest BESS, Grenergy’s 4.1GWh Oasis de Atacama project in Chile.

A total of 5.2GW/13.8GWh of grid-scale BESS capacity came online in January 2025, of which over two thirds was in China.

A 2GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project has gone into operation in Saudi Arabia, according to the EPC firm which delivered it.

Grenergy has raised financing for the fourth phase of a solar-plus-storage project in Chile set to feature 11GWh of battery storage capacity when completed.

A list of pre-qualified bidders has been published in the first procurement of BESS resources by the Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC).

Developer AMEA Power will collaborate with Trinasolar and Energy China ZTPC to install battery storage at a 500MW solar PV plant in Egypt, Africa.