REC's - Sunshine Coast Solar Power
What are REC's ?
Renewable Energy Certificates (REC's) can be created once a renewable energy system has been commissioned, and can be sold to electricity intensive industries in order for them to comply with the government's Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (RET).
The number of REC's that you can create depends on the nameplate capacity of the installed PV Array and your location / postcode (different geographic areas in Australia generate different amounts of power and have different marginal intensities with respect to electricity generation and distribution costs).
REC's effectively ensure that electricity intensive industries help to fund the uptake of renewable energy.
When you install Solar Power, you can either create these REC's yourself, or let a registered REC agent create and sell them for you. - more info ORER's website.
Solar Credits REC's -
The "Solar Credits Scheme" provides financial assistance for people installing Renewable Energy Systems.
This Scheme will allow anyone (including businesses) installing a new Grid Connected Photovoltaic Generator, to receive 3 times the normal amount of Renewable Energy Certificates for the first 1.5kW of installed capacity, with any capacity above 1.5kW receiving the normal 1:1 REC assignment.
The 3 x REC multiplier will be phased out from July 2012 onward, with the multiplier being reduced each year to
2 x (in July 2012),
and finally
1x (being the normal REC assignment) in July 2013.
The "Solar Credits Scheme" is not means tested, however these "Solar Credits REC's" are not available to you if your property has already taken advantage of the SHCP Rebate, or if the solar power system is not a new complete system.
PV generators installed after 31 Dec 2010 that qualify as an eligible SGU (Small Generation Unit) are able to create STC's (small-scale technology certificates) which can be sold through the either the STC clearing house at a fixed price of $40 / REC - although the actual price / STC is slightly less than this after REC agent fees are taken into account, or through the wholesale REC market. The following link has current REC / STC prices REC prices for the wholesale market.
The STC clearing house is administered by ORER (the government regulator), and is to be cleared once per quarter depending on market demand and these STC's are sold on a first in first served basis. more info ORER's website.
You have 12 months from the date the the PV generator is commissioned in which to create the REC's.
It is interesting to note however, that were a NET feed in tariff exists (as in QLD), payback times are largely governed by your "daytime electricity usage" because you will only get payed the high rate of $0.44 / kWh for electricity fed to the grid which is in excess of your own usage.
The less power you use between 8am and 4pm, the more power you can feed to the grid and the shorter your payback period will be.
Please see our Solar Bonus Cost Savings Page for more information on payback periods.
View the Government's "Solar Credits Regulations".
Is your premises eligible for the new "Solar Credits Scheme"? ORER Solar Credits