Prospects for Developing Compressed Air Energy Storage in Saudi Arabia

To achieve the Vision 2030 target of raising renewable energy capacity to 50% of total installed generation, large‐scale solar deployment has been identified as a core strategic pathway; however, the pronounced variability of solar generation poses significant challenges to grid stability. This paper systematically examines the current status of the Saudi Arabia's power system and identifies four major challenges: (i) renewable output variability and its temporal mismatch with load demand, (ii) the continuous decline of system inertia, (iii) economic bottlenecks for long‐duration energy storage and (iv) increasing complexity in regional coordination. Building on this analysis, the study focuses on compressed air energy storage (CAES) and demonstrates its distinctive advantages in providing long‐duration energy storage as a system‐level solution to mitigate the variability of renewable generation. Considering Saudi Arabia's high solar irradiance, temperature‐driven load characteristics and grid structure, this paper proposes an integrated New Energy + Energy Storage configuration and operational approach, through which intermittent renewable electricity can be converted into stable, reliable and dispatchable high‐quality power. The findings provide a technically grounded pathway to improve system flexibility, secure electricity supply and facilitate large‐scale renewable integration during Saudi Arabia's energy transition.