A recent joint event by Solarabic and pv magazine in Riyadh highlighted Saudi Arabia’s rapid push for clean energy and localization, with new factories and large storage projects taking shape.

The 2025 Sunrise Arabia event, a joint venture between pv magazine and Solarabic, highlighted Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding PV market, with new factories announced, large storage and solar capacities assigned, and investments reaching unprecedented levels.

“Right now, in the Gulf Region, PV is generating 140 TWh of energy per year,” said pv magazine publisher and CEO Eckhart Gouras during the opening session of the event. “In 16 years, we will be going to over 600 TWh, which means PV may be closer to eclipsing gas, which right now dominates with around 700 TWh per year. But it will shrink down to cover around 40% of the Gulf Region’s electricity demand, with PV securing the largest share. On the battery side, two years ago there were zero investments and, in five years, there will be $5 billion in capex in this space. So, amazing growth is ahead of us.”

Solarabic CEO Moneef Barakat said Saudi Arabia will soon add 30 GWh to 40 GWh of energy storage to its grid. “This market is also seeing strong deployment of EV chargers, both DC and AC. Saudi Arabia is also opening the way for the solar industry in the Gulf Region with the prospect of becoming a manufacturing hub for export to other countries,” added Barakat.

Hani Balfass, general manager at Gulf Renewable Laboratory, noted that Saudi Arabia has set its net zero target for 2060, with renewables already taking a 50% share in the country’s electricity mix by 2030.

“Meeting net zero commitments, however, will require increasing funding, as return on investment (ROI) challenges are also increasing,” he said. “Innovative financial products will be needed. We need participation from all stakeholders, either public or private.”

Mohammed Alghamdi, general manager – TIC at the Gulf Renewable Energy Laboratory (GRL), and Gouras jointly announced GRL’s cooperation agreement with the pv magazine Group.

“We will extend pv magazine solar module test to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Region,” said Gouras. “It will be the first time we will run our module tests outside China.”

Rapid growth

Nabih Cherradi, CTO of Desert Technologies, skillfully moderated the first of four sessions at the one-day event, highlighting how Saudi Arabia’s energy transition aims to combine large-scale developments with localization efforts to build a sustainable and thriving ecosystem.

“We are seeing now a virtuous circle for investments, innovation and sustainability,” he said, noting that the industry will still need support from the government.

Hisham Alhegelam, country manager at Nxor, said that while the Saudi PV market is still young, clear regulations are driving the country’s rapid progress.

“Low solar panel prices have also contributed significantly to recent developments,” he said. “But the clear framework was key to last year’s growth.”

Hani Balfass Al-Kitheri, general manager at the Gulf Renewable Energy Lab, said prices are falling not only for PV products but also for deployment and execution.

“Localizing manufacturing may offer a more stable price environment,” he stated. “Technology, on the other hand, is developing so fast and we work shoulder by shoulder with regulators and developers to follow this trajectory. It must be considered that we work in very harsh environmental conditions.”

Mohammed Alafaleq, division head at Spark, noted the strong potential of green hydrogen for completing solar and storage. “We are seeing here projects that are among the largest in the world,” he said.

Battery bet

Unlike other markets, where battery energy storage systems (BESS) rollouts follow growing RES deployment, Saudi Arabia is unique in simultaneously adding significant amounts of solar and battery storage to its grid. This occurs alongside the rapid rollout of minigrids and the increasing need for load shifting during summer months when air conditioner use strains the Kingdom’s grid. Stefan Mueckstein, principal at cleantech advisory Apricum, said the rapid build-out of mega-projects will make Saudi Arabia the world’s third-largest market in just a couple of years, behind China and the United States

The technology is ready to serve various applications in harsh, sandy climates like Saudi Arabia’s. Peter Pan from Trina Solar presented the Elementa 2 Pro, designed specifically for desert conditions. The system features a sandwiched structure that delays thermal incidents by two hours, allowing for corrective actions and compliance with local standards and codes.

“We are also ready to tackle logistics challenges and assemble our systems on site in case local roads and bridges cannot support the weight of a trailer transporting our BESS container on it,” he said.

The program continued with a panel discussion analyzing the current state of Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning BESS marketplace. Ahmed Elbaz, BESS projects manager at Algihaz, said the company is handling EPC work for three 2 GWh projects and overseeing O&M at the 2.6 GWh Bisha battery storage facility. These projects were secured through “very challenging procurement exercises” run by Saudi Electricity Co. (SEC). Elbaz said the Saudi grid is relatively stable now, but as renewables continue to roll out rapidly, the need for sophisticated BESS will grow, potentially replacing grid upgrades.

“Electrical light didn’t come from continuous improvement of candles,” he said, pointing to peak shaving, frequency control, voltage control, and black start capabilities that BESS is already providing in the on-grid scenarios. “There is a fundamental change happening so we must install batteries to ensure power quality.”

Pierre-Louis Raust, BESS and solar deployment head at NEOM, highlighted different use cases for BESS in the world’s first smart city. These include energy balancing, ancillary services, and innovative combinations with synchronous condensers in the self-contained, renewable energy grid, as well as providing grid support through the two connection points NEOM has with the electricity network. Hamza Al Smadi of Jinko Solar said most battery technology providers have evolved to offer systems for diverse and complex scenarios.

“We at Jinko are also partnering with local players who can do power analysis in the market so that we can come up with most comprehensive offers and multiple levels of support that are market-specific,” he said.

The panel identified the talent gap as the key challenge for the BESS industry in the Kingdom. Guy Olivier Ngongang Ndjawa, assistant professor at KFUPM, said close cooperation with the industry is key to addressing this challenge.

“The BESS industry in the Kingdom will be a big employer, but at this point it is a challenge to secure highly qualified people for projects that are already off the ground or developed and thereby minimize the ownership risk.” said Omar Alsulaiman, CEO of Riyadh-based battery manufacturer Neovolt.

He pointed to the government’s unlimited support towards creating skilled labor in Saudi Arabia and efforts to localize know-how.

“We have everything we need here in the Kingdom to create a full BESS supply chain but at this early stage international collaborations are critical,” he said.

Alsulaiman noted the growing demand for residential and commercial and industrial (C&I) installations, as well as the often-overlooked potential of telecom battery expansion, with nearly 600 MWh of capacity set to be deployed across 14,000 telecom towers in just one year.

Localization plans

In the third session of the day, Mohamed Saady of Jinko Solar outlined the best ways to mitigate technology risks for PV projects. Jinko Solar is building a 10 GW cell and module manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia, one of the largest such investments outside China.

“Fabricating the cell is the real know-how and we happy to bring it to the Kingdom,” said Saady. He elaborated on the way to address PV project risks by sourcing proven technology, having a bankable supplier, going for basic and enhanced certifications- such as the desert codes for countries such as Saudi Arabia, and ensuring that projects are deploying a premium bill of material. “You can have the best technology and outstanding bankability but if you go cheap on the bill of materials than it all doesn’t count.”

He also noted that field performance, especially in climates like Saudi Arabia, matters more than data sheet values, and in this regard, tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) outperforms heterojunction (HJT).

Next on stage, Sulaiman Alyousefi, conformity specialist at the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO), explained that SASO provides national certification for various PV technologies, inverters, and battery storage products to ensure their quality and safety. This certification, based on international and regional standards, applies only to the Saudi market and can be achieved quickly and efficiently. “If all the technical documents are ready, the process would take five days or less,” he said.

In the next panel on PV manufacturing in the MENA region, Theo Xin of Trinasolar said the Chinese manufacturer is open to localization. On the day of the SunRise Arabia conference, news broke that Trina is opening a 3 GW PV tracker factory in the Kingdom in Q1 2025. Xin noted that further such moves are planned.

“We are very open to local manufacturing in the Saudi market and moving to modules, cells, battery storage,” he said.

Fernando Herrerias, CEO of Sunshine Middle East, said Saudi authorities have made it easier for foreign investors to enter the market in recent years, even without local partnerships.

“It takes only a few months to secure licenses for manufacturing and securing land is a piece of cake today,” Herrerias said.

Youssef El Sayed, CEO of PV Hardware, echoed Herrerias’ view. The solar tracker manufacturer secured all licenses and equipment within months of its 2021 launch and began shipping products the same year.

“Today, we have 91% local content in our products, and this happened due to the local content laws (LCGPA) and the ministries working together to remove all possible obstacles to local manufacturing,” El Sayed said.

PV Hardware now has 12 GW of manufacturing capacity in Saudi Arabia and exports to markets including the United States, Australia, Europe, and the Gulf region, leveraging the country’s strategic trade position. Herrerias said technology quality and manufacturing scale are key to success.

“The Saudi authorities are eager to support big investments and manufacturing at scale and this is also important since the projects being rolled out here are so big,” he said.

Xin said local demand for high-quality technology aligns well with TOPCon. Looking ahead, if proven at scale, tandem technologies could be a game changer in Saudi Arabia and beyond.

C&I vision

The final session highlighted the significant potential of Saudi Arabia’s C&I sector, with and without storage. High solar radiation and falling PV module and battery prices are driving growth. Meanwhile, Saudi companies seek ways to reduce their carbon footprint while optimizing energy use.

Japanese conglomerate Marubeni showed that C&I projects can achieve optimal LCOE while scaling efficiently.

The event underscored Saudi Arabia’s rapid clean energy expansion, with major investments, large-scale manufacturing, and grid-scale storage projects moving forward. As the Kingdom advances its localization efforts and strengthens its position in global markets, its renewable energy sector is set for unprecedented growth.