The news about new energy in the Middle East this week is not a simple "big project signing", but a complete shift in industrial logic - from "buying finished products" to "making it yourself", from single photovoltaic to the entire lithium battery chain. Whether you are doing energy storage, batteries, materials or equipment, this wave is worth understanding every word.

UAE: Financing of super optical storage project has been completed, and supporting procurement has just begun

Masdar’s world’s first all-weather optical storage project completed full financing of US$6.1 billion this week, planning 5.2GW photovoltaic + 19GWh energy storage, specifically to provide stable green power for AI computing power centers.

RTC project groundbreaking ceremony

Chinese companies gained a clear share:

BYD locked in 11.275GWh energy storage orders

· Sungrow has taken over 7.5GWh

· JA Solar’s ​​photovoltaic modules have entered the stage of batch shipment

, but the greater opportunity lies “after delivery” - the 19GWh energy storage system means that the demand for supporting upstream production lines such as massive lithium iron phosphate slurry, nano-grinding equipment, coating machines, and roller slitting is about to be released. The UAE is becoming a "model room" for grid-level energy storage in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will follow this model in the future, and equipment businesses must pay attention to the subsequent framework agreement bidding.

JA Solar module shipment site

Saudi Arabia: Exclusive rights for green hydrogen settled, 7 Chinese companies shortlisted for energy storage bidding

1. Green hydrogen export hub: Officials have granted ACWA Power the exclusive operating rights for national green hydrogen production and cross-border exports. The green hydrogen and green ammonia export channels to Europe have been officially opened, and the bidding window for electrolyzers and hydrogen production equipment has been fully opened.

2. Independent energy storage bidding: The pre-review list of the second batch of 3GW/12GWh projects was announced. Seven Chinese-funded companies including Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Vision, and Longyuan Electric were shortlisted and have entered the final bidding stage this week.

Saudi Arabia has abundant funds, but localized employment (requiring a certain proportion of Saudi employees) and equity quotas (requiring local partners to hold shares) are extremely strict. The current best strategy is equipment export + EPC general contracting, suspending the construction of heavy-asset self-built material factories to avoid compliance costs from eating up profits.

NEOM Green Hydrogen Factory

Oman: The entire industrial chain is closed-loop, the position with the highest certainty for equipment manufacturers

The biggest industrial dividend this week comes from Oman -

The sovereign fund officially approved a US$1.744 billion new energy investment portfolio, the Sohar Free Trade Zone launched a material factory + a 6GW photovoltaic cell production line, and the first complete cathode material industry chain in the Middle East was formed.

At the same time:

· Global bidding for 1GW photovoltaic project launched

· Feasibility study bidding for 800MW~1GW green hydrogen power plant was released simultaneously, with bidding deadline on August 26

· Zhongke Xingcheng’s 200,000-ton anode base civil construction is advancing at full speed, superimposing the already implemented polysilicon projects - from silicon materials, photovoltaics, lithium iron phosphate to anodes, the upstream supply chain has been completely closed-loop

Why is Oman the "most reliable springboard" currently?

· No Indonesian-style resource lock-up policy, free flow of foreign exchange

· Enterprises in the free trade port enjoy full tariff exemption

· The deep-water port is directly connected to the European and American markets, with significant logistics cost advantages

For equipment manufacturers such as sand mills, sintering furnaces, homogenization equipment, etc., the order certainty here in the next 2 to 3 years is the highest - positive and negative electrodes are put into production intensively, and equipment procurement will be a blowout.

Sohar Lingang Industrial Zone

Kuwait & Bahrain: Policy dividends are released simultaneously

· Kuwait has finalized the 3GW photovoltaic + supporting energy storage plan and clearly prioritized the purchase of China's overall energy storage solution.

· Bahrain has offered preferential conditions of 10-year income tax exemption to attract lithium battery manufacturing companies to settle down, paving the way for subsequent exports of production line equipment.

Kuwait Desert Photovoltaic Field Area

A quick overview of overseas priorities (sorted by risk and return)

Echelon Target market Main direction of attack Strategy points

First echelon Oman Cathode/negative electrode production line equipment (grinding, sintering, homogenization) The industrial chain is concentrated and put into production, the most orders are intensive, the window period is 2 to 3 years

Second echelon UAE Large energy storage system integration, power grid support Only equipment and system integration, no raw material smelting, risk controllable

Long-term follow-up Saudi Arabia Export of complete machine equipment and EPC services. Large order cycle is long, localization threshold is high, self-built production lines are postponed.

Zhongke Xingcheng Oman anode project started

Trend Insight: The Middle East is "replicating" China's lithium battery production capacity structure

In the past, the Middle East only purchased photovoltaic panels and energy storage finished products, but now it has begun to build its own complete upstream material system - this is almost a replica of the domestic lithium battery industry upgrade from 2015 to 2020.

For our equipment companies, this means that a high-quality incremental market that avoids India's high tariffs and circumvents European and American trade barriers has been formed. Whoever gets the equipment supply first will be able to take the initiative in the next round of global production capacity transfer.

The window is open, so act quickly. I will continue to track and interpret the subsequent bidding progress, shortlists, and equipment technical requirements of each project. Welcome to follow and don’t miss every key signal.