The Middle East has unique solar resource conditions.Under the development of global energy transformation, the demand for solar photovoltaics and energy storage supporting facilities has continued to grow rapidly in recent years, with huge development potential.
Among them, Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt have clarified their new energy development goals and introduced supporting policies to vigorously develop renewable energy such as solar energy.
Policy guidance
Driven by Vision 2030, the development of renewable energy has become the biggest driving force for energy storage.
In 2016, Saudi Arabia officially released the "Saudi Arabia Vision 2030", which aims to "get rid of excessive dependence on oil and gas and achieve economic diversification." In 2017, Saudi Arabia launched the National Renewable Energy Plan (NREP), aiming to achieve an installed capacity of 58.7GW of new energy power generation by 2030. In 2021, the Saudi Energy Minister proposed that by 2030, 50% of Saudi Arabia's total installed power generation capacity will be composed of new energy sources. In January 2023, the Saudi Energy Minister stated that he would invest one trillion riyals (approximately US$266.4 billion) to generate "clean energy."
The Saudi government actively promotes the development of renewable energy, and through the implementation of policies and measures such as the National Renewable Energy Plan (NREP). The photovoltaic and energy storage industry develops rapidly. At present, Saudi Arabia's photovoltaic + energy storage industry chain is gradually improving, and its technological innovation capabilities are constantly improving.
Tens of billions of funds support
Saudi Arabia actively introduces international advanced technology and investment, and conducts in-depth cooperation with photovoltaic companies in China and other countries to jointly promote the innovative development of the photovoltaic energy storage industry. Chinese photovoltaic companies have intensively deployed in the Middle East market and have launched extensive cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the field of photovoltaic energy storage.
Clean energy cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia has deepened. Under the framework of the “Belt and Road” initiative and the “2030 Vision”, China and Saudi Arabia have continued to deepen cooperation in the fields of solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, energy storage, and hydrogen energy.
Among them, GCL, Sungrow, JA Solar, Jinko, LONGi, Trina Solar, Risen Energy, Huawei and others have opened up the new energy investment and development market in Saudi Arabia, laying the foundation for Chinese energy storage companies to go abroad to Saudi Arabia.
In terms of investment, in 2021, Huawei and Shandong Electric Power Construction Third Engineering Co., Ltd. successfully signed a contract for the Red Sea New City energy storage project in Saudi Arabia to jointly build a 1,300MWh large energy storage power station.
In 2022, Sungrow signed an agreement with EPC company L&T to provide 600MWh energy storage system products for NEOM New City in Saudi Arabia.
In 2023, China Shipping Energy Storage and Saudi ULTIM signed a project agreement on the "Fe-Chromium Flow Battery Long-term Energy Storage" in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's financial and trade center. They reached an in-depth strategic cooperation to promote Saudi Arabia's energy transformation and upgrading and will work together to build Saudi Arabia's first Long-duration energy storage projects.
Through the establishment of special economic zones, Saudi Arabia supports the investment and development of advanced manufacturing industries such as energy storage. In April 2023, Saudi Arabia established four new special economic zones, including King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), Jazan SEZ, Ras Al-Khair SEZ, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology Cloud Computing Special Economic Zone (KACST), these zones will be used for the introduction of advanced manufacturing including energy storage and investment in the maritime, mining, logistics and technology sectors.
Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/jdStmDOUn2-PlsA6RWWVLg