State utility provider Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) has approved a total budget of AED26.4bn ($7.2bn) for 2018, which will include investments in conventional and non-conventional sources of energy.

The value of expenditure planned in the 2018 budget is almost 8 per cent higher than the budget for 2017. The 2018 budget includes the AED14.2bn concentrated independent power (IPP) project, for which the main contracts were awarded in 2017.