World’s largest grid battery has been completed – in the oil capital of the world

The world’s biggest battery energy storage system – a 7.8 gigawatt-hour behemoth – has been completed in Saudi Arabia, and will now start the process of powering up.

China-based inverter and battery giant, Sungrow, said last week that construction of the huge big battery had been completed across three sites located in the southwestern regions of KSA, Najran, Khamis Mushait, and Madaya.

The project is owned by Saudi Electricity Co. and has an offtake deal with National Grid SA – a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Saudi Electricity Co. Algihaz Holding was the project’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner.

A LinkedIn announcement from Ahmed Elbaz, head of BESS Execution at Algihaz, says construction of the project actually was completed around five months ago.

Sungrow says that it manufactured more than 1,500 PowerTitan 2.0 systems in just 58 days for the Saudi Electricity Company project, to help deliver it “within a very challenging timeline.”

The company says the PowerTitan 2.0 system has a “streamlined configuration” – including an all-in-one AC-DC block design and pre-assembled battery containers – that significantly reduces onsite installation time.

“This 7.8 GWh project marks the beginning of large-scale energy storage deployment in the Middle East,” Sungrow said in a statement last week.

“The project’s annual charging and discharging capacity is expected to reach 2.2 billion kWh, which can meet the annual electricity needs of 400,000 households in Saudi Arabia.”

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