BYD Energy Storage has landed the single largest slice of Masdar's 19 GWh Round-the-Clock (RTC) project in Abu Dhabi, Electrek reported on July 10, 2026, agreeing to supply 11.275 GWh of battery capacity in what ranks as one of the largest utility storage procurements ever signed.
The world's biggest solar-plus-storage plant
Masdar and the Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) are building the RTC facility to deliver 1 GW of continuous, dispatchable clean power around the clock, pairing a 5.2 GW solar array with 19 GWh of batteries. BYD's award covers roughly 60% of that storage. According to the company, the deal centers on a single station rated at 1,644 MW / 11,275 MWh using its Haohan platform — more capacity than the entire grid-storage fleet of most countries.
Chinese suppliers lock up the full 19 GWh
When Masdar unveiled the RTC project in early 2025 it flagged CATL as its preferred cell supplier. The signed contracts tell a different story: BYD has taken 11.275 GWh, while Sungrow already secured the remaining 7.5 GWh in an earlier phase. Together, two Chinese suppliers now own the entire 19 GWh, leaving no room for Tesla, Fluence or other Western integrators on the flagship project.
Blade cells and Haohan energy density
BYD's Haohan system is built on the company's 2,710 Ah Blade Battery — a cell rated at more than three times the capacity of legacy grid-storage lithium units. Fewer, larger cells mean fewer connections, which BYD says cuts battery management complexity by 70–80% and packs 10 MWh into a standard 20-foot container. Rated IP66 and built for -30°C to 55°C, the containers are designed for Emirati desert operation, and the accompanying GC Master energy management system can supervise up to 15 GWh from a single station.
A Gulf storage surge
The Masdar contract isn't a one-off. BYD recently landed a 12.5 GWh grid-storage award in Saudi Arabia, part of a broader sweep of Gulf utility deals as sodium-ion and LFP cell prices collapse. That production advantage is why Chinese vendors are winning the biggest tenders: BYD's Haohan platform has been picked for grid-forming BESS projects on three continents in the past quarter, and Reliance's 120 GWh LFP gigafactory in India is racing to close the same cost gap.
Why it matters for renewables
At a project level, 19 GWh over 5.2 GW of solar effectively converts intermittent PV into 24-hour baseload — the missing link renewables have struggled to deliver at gigawatt scale. Masdar chairman Sultan Al Jaber has framed RTC as the reference plant for how the Gulf de-risks a hydrocarbon-lite grid ahead of COP30. Sungrow's contribution, drawn from its PowerTitan 2.0 platform, will fill out the remaining capacity.
Reporting based on coverage from Electrek and BYD Energy Storage.