What are the benefits of Renewable Energy Certificates over other Green Power options?
RECs are produced at the point of generation and represent the non-power attributes of 1 megawatt hour of delivered renewable electricity to the utility grid. Often, renewable electricity generators sell the RECs and the underlying physical electricity separately. The electrons from the underlying physical electricity are fed onto the electric grid and distributed across wires to various customers and points of use. The RECs take a separate pathway and are sold through contractual agreements. The ultimate buyer of the RECs can claim that the underlying commodity electricity (electrons) is “green,” since the RECs are the instrument that embodies the environmental and technological attributes of the renewable resource.
