The Greens called for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to no longer apply to solar hot water and heat pumps, suggesting that credits from these technologies become additional to the RET.

According to Green Energy Markets, the price of RECs has recently fallen from over $50 to under $30.

The Greens believe that the fall in prices has resulted from the oversupply of credits in the RET due to the inclusion of solar hot water, heat pumps and multiplied rooftop solar credits, which the industry shows makes up about 50 per cent of RECs.

When probed by Greens Senator Christine Milne about the RET in Question Time, Minister for Climate Change Senator Penny Wong said that most renewable energy projects entered into long-term contracts for the sale of RECs and were therefore not likely to be affected by what she saw as the short term fall in REC prices.

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“The REC prices that are most often quoted publicly are obviously the spot market,” Senator Wong said.

“I think it is important in this debate to recognise that many, if not most renewable energy projects enter into long-term contracts for the sale of Renewable Energy Certificates and therefore are not subject to, or not as open to the short-term fluctuations on the spot market. There have been some recent price falls in relation to the Renewable Energy Certificate (and the) government are going to monitor that closely.”

The Greens moved amendments to the original RET legislation when it was debated in September, but the amendments were rejected by both the Government and Opposition at the time.

For more information visit the Department of Climate Change website.