Meet Your ESG Goals with Confidence

How RECs fit with on-site solar and other routes

Renewable Energy Certificates and on-site solar solve different parts of a corporate sustainability plan. A REC is a certificate attached to one megawatt-hour of renewable generation. It lets a company claim the environmental attributes of that energy when reporting market-based Scope 2 emissions. On-site rooftop solar, by contrast, generates power at your premises and reduces the electricity you buy from the grid. Which mix is right depends on your reporting framework, your roof and your load profile.

Many companies combine routes: solar on the roof first to cut consumption, then certificates or a virtual power purchase agreement to cover the remainder. Read about virtual PPA and the Corporate Green Power Programme (provided by third parties, not Trexon), our Renewable Energy Certificates guide, larger utility-scale solar projects and on-site PPA structures (third-party owned, not offered by Trexon).

Whichever route you choose, keep the paperwork your auditors will ask for: certificate retirement records, generation data and invoices that let each claim be traced. To start, share your latest 12 months of TNB bills and the reporting requirement you need to meet. For rooftop options on factories and commercial buildings, see commercial solar and industrial solar, and review the government incentives that may apply to your project.

Documenting renewable electricity for sustainability reporting

Companies that report sustainability information, including those preparing disclosures under Bursa Malaysia's sustainability reporting requirements, are usually asked to show where their electricity came from and how any renewable claim was calculated. A clear paper trail matters more than the size of the claim, because reviewers test whether each number can be traced back to a source.

Scope 2 emissions can be reported in two ways. The location-based method applies an average grid emission factor to the electricity you consumed. The market-based method reflects the specific purchases you made, such as retired certificates or a supply contract. Many frameworks, including the GHG Protocol, ask companies to disclose both figures, so keep the inputs for each.

• Consumption records: twelve months of TNB bills and, where available, half-hourly meter data for each site.
• On-site generation data: inverter or generation-meter readings, kept separate from grid imports and any exported energy.
• Certificate records: the registry account, certificate serial numbers, the generation period, and the retirement confirmation naming your company as beneficiary.
• Matching logic: a short note explaining which consumption each claim covers, so the same megawatt-hour is never counted twice.
• Emission factors: the published source and year used for the location-based calculation.

Certificates should be retired, not just held, before they are used in a reporting year, and the retirement should fall in or near the period the electricity was consumed. Which factors, boundaries and assurance level apply to your company depends on your chosen framework and your auditor, so confirm these with them before you buy. For the cost side of on-site generation, see the commercial ROI calculator, and for commissioning timelines tied to tax allowances read about government incentives.