Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has received seven bids for the consultancy services contract to undertake studies on the potential implementation of geothermal, tidal wave and ocean current schemes to produce renewable energy.

The state utilities company received the proposals on 31 July.

The lowest bid of AED1.3m ($350,000) was submitted by the US-based Hydroqual. This was almost 28 per cent lower than the AED1.7m price submitted by the second lowest bidder, the local Sogreah Gulf.

The successful bidder will carry out prefeasibility studies on geothermal technology for power generation and desalination projects as well as the potential for tidal wave and ocean current technology for power generation.

Dubai is seeking to conduct the studies to widen its potential renewables production, having focused on solar energy in its renewable energy projects to date.

The emirate has set a target for 25 per cent of its electricity production to come from renewable energy sources by 2030, with 75 per cent of its power set to come from clean energy sources by 2050.

The emirate’s target for 25 per cent of renewable energy by 2030 will come from the planned 5,000MW capacity of its Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum (MBR) solar park.

On 1 May, Dewa received three world record-low tariffs for the proposed 800MW photovoltaic (PV) solar third phase of the park. In June, the utility announced it was planning for concentrated solar power (CSP) to contribute 1,000MW of the planned 5,000MW of solar energy by 2030.

In late June, Dewa selected a consortium led by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Latif Jameel and Spain’s Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) as the preferred bidder for the 800MW independent power project (IPP).