Interested developers and developer consortiums have submitted their statements of qualifications (SOQs) for a contract to develop an independent 400MW battery energy storage system (bess) power project in Abu Dhabi.

State offtaker Emirates Water & Electricity Company (Ewec) received the SOQs on 20 May, according to industry sources.

Ewec issued the request for prequalifications for the contract on 2 May.

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.

The facilities will be able to store and discharge 400MW of power for not less than one hour throughout the ESA term. The project also covers ancillary equipment, associated infrastructure and facilities.

Each plant will have no less than 200 megawatt-hours of energy storage capacity.

The project has attracted strong interest among developers, resulting in a highly competitive bidding process, one of the sources tells MEED.

The project will be structured as a standalone IPP and will be developed on a build-own-operate basis.

The ESA will be for 15 years, commencing on 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.

"Bess technology will play a crucial role in Ewec's strategic plan to diversify its portfolio of energy projects with a focus on sustainability, in addition to increasing its total solar photovoltaic power generation capacity to 7.5GW," the firm said upon issuing the expression of interest to developers and developer consortiums in March.

US-headquartered Sargent & Lundy, London-based Consilium Officium and the US' White & Case are the client's technical, financial and legal advisers for the project, respectively.