Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)

RECs are produced under the Australian Government’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Scheme (Renewable Energy Electricity Act 2000) which seeks to encourage additional renewable energy production and provides an added incentive for customers installing a renewable energy system. For more information about RECs and the Renewables Scheme refer to The Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator www.orer.gov.au.

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) can be created by owners of small generation units such as solar panel (photovoltaic or PV) systems, solar water heater or heat pump systems and small wind systems. Green Energy Trading is a registered REC agent and can create RECs when assigned by the system owner.

Each REC represents the equivalent of one megawatt hour (MWh) of generated electricity from an accredited renewable energy source.

The amount of RECs each system can produce is different - it depends on the size of the system and the location. Australia has been divided into four zones for both solar PV and solar water heater installations, which represent the differing number of sunlight hours across Australia. To determine which zone your system is located in please refer to our Solar Zones page.

RECs can be created on a “deemed basis” for the installation of PV systems. Owners of these systems eligible for RECs can choose to create RECs in either 1, 5 or 15 year deeming periods, depending on the particular installation date.

If this is your second system at the same address

When more than one system is installed at the same address further information is also required, that is a diagram or description of where the system and associated serial numbers are located e.g.  “the system with serial number X is installed at the rear of the house and the system with serial number Y is installed on level 1 of the main building”. The description needs to link the serial number to each system and explain exactly where each system is located.