Huawei has built the world’s largest microgrid power station, which has the capacity to generate one billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power a year and provide power to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea New City project.

The Red Sea Project, a huge tourism enterprise under construction on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast that is set to cost $500bn (R1.88trn), aims to be the first city to run entirely on renewable energy.

In a press release, Huawei said the president of its digital energy global marketing service group, Yang Yougui, had confirmed that the company had finished building the power station.

According to Yougi, the microgrid power station can provide 400MW of photovoltaic power and 1.3 gigawatt-hours of energy storage. Huawei has been working on the technology for ten years.

Huawei said that its microgrid solution has been “providing 1kWh of green power supply to the Red Sea project since September 2023”.

Saudi Arabia is relying on Huawei to provide power for its Red Sea project. As part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan to restructure the kingdom’s economy, the project aims to turn 50 islands into luxury tourism destinations hosting an airport and numerous hotels, covering 28,000km².

In the recent past, China has made other investments in Saudi Arabia, including in the construction of the North-South railway, the Makkah Light railway and agreements to build the hotels in the Red Sea project.

According to local information outlet Arab News, China became the top greenfield foreign direct investor in the desert nation in 2023, with investments totalling $16.8bn.

While China is investing in Saudi Arabia, Beijing hopes the relationship will work both ways. Last year, the mayor of Beijing told the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund that his city was ripe with investment opportunities, specifically in areas such green development and energy transition.