REC Registry

Written and checked by the Energy Merchants desk · Reviewed 2 October 2026

The REC Registry is the Clean Energy Regulator’s online register of renewable energy certificates. It is the ledger for the Renewable Energy Target: where STCs and LGCs are created, where ownership is recorded, and where retailers surrender certificates to meet their obligation.

Each certificate has a serial number, and the registry shows who holds it, its creation date and its status. Think of it as a title register rather than a market. Prices are agreed between buyers and sellers elsewhere.

In practice

A solar job reaches the registry as a certificate creation claim. The system details, owner and installer information, product serial numbers and evidence are lodged. Once the claim is accepted, the CER registers the certificates, and they appear in the account of whoever lodged it. If the owner assigned the rights to a trader or installer, that party’s registry account receives them and can transfer them to the buyer.

At that point money moves. The buyer pays, the certificates transfer, and the trade settles. This last step is the one installers care about most.

Most installers do not log in daily. They work through a trader or a registered agent who holds a registry account, and that business lodges and transfers on their behalf. Our STC trading page describes the flow from install to settlement.

Common confusion

The registry is not the same as the product approval lists, nor the accreditation database. Those are separate. A system can have accredited installers and approved products and still be rejected if the claim lodged in the registry is incomplete or inconsistent.

The REC Registry is also not the Victorian VEU registry or the NSW scheme registers, which hold VEECs, ESCs and PRCs.

Terms like these are collected in the certificate trading glossary. For the evidence set, see the STC photo requirements.