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Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator

Increasing Australia's renewable electricity generation

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PDF file

• Calculating Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) for small solar (photovoltaic) systems (PDF 56 KB)

About the document

The Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 (the Act) and the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001 (the Regulations) allow owners of eligible small generation units (SGUs) to create and trade renewable energy certificates (RECs)². Each REC represents the equivalent of one megawatt hour (MWh) of generated electricity from an accredited renewable energy source. Once RECs are validated and registered by the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator (ORER), they can be sold in the REC market. Potential buyers of RECs include:

• liable parties, such as electricity retailers, who have an obligation to surrender RECs to the ORER each year or pay a shortfall charge in order to acquit their liability under the Act;
• Registered Agents; and
• traders of RECs

Owners of SGUs can create RECs themselves through the internet-based REC Registry (www.rec-registry.gov.au ), but most find it more convenient to assign their right to create RECs to an Agent in return for a financial benefit such as a discount on the purchase price of the SGU or a cash rebate. Details of these two options, as well as a list of Registered Agents who have agreed to make their contact details publicly available, can be found on the ORER website (www.orer.gov.au/publications/agents.html) or by contacting the ORER by telephone on 02 6274 2192.

¹ Note: The information provided in this document may be subject to change with amendments to the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000, the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001, and the administrative processes adopted by the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator.

² It is the owner of the eligible SGU at the time it was installed who has the right to create RECs for their SGU. This right can be assigned to a registered agent.