The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a renewable energy certificate (REC) as a tradeable, market-based instrument that represents the legal property rights to the “renewable-ness” — or all non-power attributes — of renewable electricity generation.1
A REC is issued for every megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity generated and delivered to the electric grid from a renewable energy resource. RECs can then be sold and purchased in the renewable electricity market. Energy suppliers like Santanna purchase RECs from different renewable generation owners, and then pass along the benefits to their residential and commercial retail energy customers.
RECs are effectively the currency of the renewable energy market. RECs give you the ability to support renewable energy even if you cannot generate renewable energy at your home or service location. For more information about RECs and how they work, please visit the EPA’s website at: epa.gov.
1epa.gov