Tender processes used by the government Eiid window 5 is part of a competitive tender process designed under the REIPPP to facilitate private-sector investment into grid-connected renewable-energy generation in South Africalndependent power producers are invited to submit bids for development of onshore wind, solar photovoltaic (ij. concentrated solar power, small hydro. biomass, biogas or landfill gas projects. Submitted bids must first qualify for evaluation by meeting minimum compliance requirements. after which they are evaluated based on price and economic development criteria_Between ED'I'I and 201 5 four bidding rounds, or bid windows, were completed. Competition has been fierce. with SSH] submissions resulting in just under a quarter {92} selected for procurement of SSESMW amounting to R1 SHE-billion {USDES-billionj in investment, according to researchers Anton Eberhard and Raine Maude in The South ifn'can Renewable Energyr Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme: A Review and Lessons Learned.Spealiing at the announcement of the preferred bidders of window 5 in October last year, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Swede lvlantashe said the country has so far procured and signed agreements with a total of 93 independent power producer projects totalling TSUEMW. "Eighty-nine of these projects. including bid window 4 projects signed in 201 S, are already connected to the grid and are supplying SSESMW equivalent to two of Eskom's coal-fired power stations. These include SS renewable energy projects, two diesel-fired peaking plants, and five small power plants in the form of hydropower, landfill gas and biomass.\" lvlantashe saidAccording to DlviRE site, most of the responses submitted by the preferred bidders in bid window 5 were well prepared, resulting in a high level of competition. The average price of electricity that would be generated by these projects, including wind and solar P'v', is R4?3.94IMWh.The DlviRE says this is the lowest price achieved by the REIPPPP programme since its inception in 2014] and that the average price would have been even lower if it was not for constraints on the national grid that prevented some of the cheaper projects from being selected as preferred bidders_The department says more investment in grid infrastructure is a critical requirement to ensure participation by cheaper renewable projects in future. especially in those areas with higher solar radiation yield. The 'IE wind projects selected as preferred bidders have an average price of R428.?9Illeh What steps are in common in the two processes and which ones are different. [marks]