What are Renewable Energy Certificates?
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are a new form of “currency” created by the “Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2001” and are used to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the Government’s mandatory renewable energy target. Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are electronic certificates that reside on a publicly available Internet database. Each REC represents 1 MWh (mega watt hour) of electricity generated from a renewable energy source by a power station or 1 MWh of electricity displaced by a solar water heater. One MWh is 1,000 kilowatt hours. Top * This list of Frequently Asked Questions has used the “Frequently Asked Questions” page from the web site of The Office of The Renewable Energy Regulator as a basis for information. The information has been expanded and tailored to suit both Rheem Australia Pty Ltd and the Rheem product. Rheem wishes to acknowledge the ORER for its permission to use the information from its web site as a basis for this document.
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are an electronic form of currency initiated by the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000. RECs are created by registered persons, validated by the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator, traded between registered persons, and eventually surrendered to demonstrate liability compliance against the requirements of the Australian Government’s mandatory renewable energy target. Renewable Energy is an authorised REC’s dealer Owners of eligible solar water heater installations are eligible for RECs. Owners of eligible solar water heater installations have the option to claim RECs themselves by completing the appropriate application forms or assign their right to claim RECs to an agent. For more information contact Renewable Energy Regulator on 1300 856 477.
The Government’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) supports the reduction of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the proportion of Australia’s electricity that is derived from renewable energy sources. This is achieved through an innovative market-based certificate trading scheme. The commodity in this market is the Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) – each REC represents the equivalent of one megawatt hour of electricity generation from an accredited renewable energy source. For solar hot water systems, each REC represents the displacement of one megawatt hour of electricity generation by solar energy. Owners of water heaters that use renewable energy may be able to create and sell RECs to help offset the cost of installing renewable energy technologies in the home.
