Huge luxury Saudi resort goes 100pct renewables with one of world’s biggest batteries

One Step Off The Grid

A consortium led by Saudi Arabian-based renewable energy developer ACWA Power has been awarded the contract to design, build, and operate the utility infrastructure for The Red Sea Project, a tourism development billed as “the world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project.”

The contract will see an initial 210MW of wind and solar capacity built to generate electricity for the project, and includes what the developers are terming “the world’s largest battery storage facility of 1000MWh” which will ensure the new tourism hub remains completely off-grid and 100% powered by renewables, day and night.

(By the time the facility is built the battery will likely have been bettered in size by several projects in the US, and possibly matched by the new AGL battery announced for South Australia).

The Red Sea Development Company announced on Monday its first public-private partnership which secured important multinational investment in return for the rights to design, build, and operate The Red Sea Project’s utilities infrastructure.

Billed as “the world’s most ambitious luxury tourism development” and set to offer “an exclusive experience of unparalleled diversity for discerning global travellers,” The Red Sea Project “will encourage visitors to explore the wonders and rich cultural heritage of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Coast.”

Beyond the hyperbolic travel agent promises is a more reliable commitment to ensure the project delivers an environmentally responsible utility infrastructure across renewable energy, water production, wastewater treatment, and district cooling.

As such, this new contract marks The Red Sea Project as the region’s first tourism destination to be powered solely by renewable energy.

To read the full story on RenewEconomy sister site, One Step Off The Grid, click here…