Saudi company to build 760 MW of solar, 1,077 MWh of BESS in Syria

The Syrian Electricity Company (SEC) and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Harfi Construction company will work together to develop three renewable energy projects in Damascus with solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS).

The projects will be built in the Widyan ar-Rabi’ area in the Damascus countryside, according to a report by the Syrian Arab News Agency.

Altogether, the three projects will provide 760 MW of solar generation capacity and 1,077 MWh of battery energy storage capacity.

The SEC, Syria’s state-owned electric utility, signed the development agreement at Al-Harfi’s company headquarters in Damascus.

The news follows February’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Al-Harfi and Syria to develop a 210 MW solar project supported by a BESS with storage capacity of 827 MWh. The MoU was signed by SEC’s predecessor, the General Establishment for Electricity Transmission and Distribution (PETDE).

The projects will provide clean energy to Syria, which has very limited solar capacity and experiences frequent power blackouts. Previous reporting by pv magazine highlighted the country’s fragile power grid and vulnerability to geopolitical instability. There is not much data on Syria’s solar sector but interest from foreign investors, including Al-Harfi and ACWA Power, is growing gradually, while householders are turning to rooftop solar in their droves to provide reliable, secure and cheap electricity amid power outages.