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State offtaker Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) has invited prequalified companies to submit their proposals for a contract to develop and operate an independent 400MW battery energy storage system (bess) power project in Abu Dhabi.

Ewec expects to receive bids by the fourth quarter of 2024.

The planned facility is expected to provide up to 800 megawatt-hours (MWh) of storage capacity.

Called Bess 1, the project will closely follow the model of Ewec's independent power project (IPP) programme, in which developers enter into a long-term energy storage agreement (ESA) with Ewec as the sole procurer.

The first plant will be in Al-Bihouth, approximately 45 kilometres (km) southwest of Abu Dhabi, and the second plant will be in Madinat Zayed, about 160km southwest of the city.  

According to Ewec, the request for proposals is being issued to 27 prequalified companies and consortiums, out of the 93 companies that submitted an expression of interest to bid for the contract in April this year.

It did not specify the prequalified companies.

MEED previously reported that the companies that submitted statements of qualifications to bid for the contract include:

• Acwa Power (Saudi Arabia)
• EDF (France)
• GE (US)
• Jera (Japan)
• Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco, South Korea)
• Marubeni Corporation (Japan)
• Samsung C&T (South Korea)

Sources also cited that "several Chinese bess manufacturers and suppliers" have applied to prequalify as investors in the project.

The ESA will be for 15 years, commencing from the project's commercial operation date, which falls in the third quarter of 2026. 

According to Ewec, the bess project will provide additional flexibility to the system and ancillary services such as frequency response and voltage regulation.

"Ewec is deploying bess to enhance the flexibility and stability of Abu Dhabi’s energy network, allowing for the effective management of peak demand and integration of increasing amounts of renewable energy," the utility said in a media statement on 25 July.

It added: "Bess technology will also provide crucial ancillary services such as frequency response and voltage regulation, further reinforcing the security of supply and supporting Ewec to increase its solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to 7.5 gigawatts (GW) by 2030.

"This accelerated growth in renewables will significantly reduce the carbon dioxide intensity of Ewec's power supply, from 330 kilograms a megawatt hour (kg/MWh) in 2019 to an estimated 190 kg/MWh by 2030."

Global bess market

The overall capacity of deployed bess globally is expected to reach 127GW by 2027, up from an estimated cumulative deployment of 36.7GW at the end of 2023, according to a recent GlobalData report.

The report cited Chinese companies BYD and CATL and South Korean companies LG Energy Solutions and Samsung SDI among the top battery technology providers globally.

Related read: Abu Dhabi tenders 2.5GW Taweelah C contract