The Clean Energy Regulator (the agency) is developing a new serial number ledger (the ledger) capability, to strengthen the integrity of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) and the solar industry.

The ledger will store all solar panel serial numbers supplied to the Australian market and eligible for small-scale technology certificates (STCs). Data in the ledger will be used to assess eligibility of STC claims by cross referencing serial numbers in STC claims with serial numbers in the ledger. Data would be provided to the agency by Australian local manufacturers/nominated importers for panels on the Clean Energy Council (CEC) approved PV module list.

The ledger will complement, not replace, the Solar Panel Validation (SPV) initiative. SPV gives solar supply chain representatives early confirmation of solar panel eligibility before and at the time of installation. The ledger will provide a secondary point of verification during the creation of STCs that do not use SPV. This enables the agency to differentiate solar panel serial numbers provided by authorised suppliers and potentially non-authorised suppliers. This will also assist our compliance activities including the identification of data anomalies between agency, SPV and manufacturer/importer datasets.

Benefits of the serial number ledger

Benefits include:

  • It enables us to enhance our regulatory framework and assists to prevent ineligible solar panels receiving Commonwealth incentives under the SRES whilst complimenting the SPV.
  • Allows manufacturers to remove risk to their brand from non-authorised suppliers bringing potentially ineligible solar panels to the Australian market that could be used in STC claims.
  • It decreases burden for manufacturers and agents by reducing the need for us to make individual requests for additional information about solar panel serial numbers to assess eligibility.

Next steps

In the coming weeks we will contact stakeholders to co-design two key aspects of the ledger: the data format and the mechanism to upload the data.

If you have any questions about the development of the ledger capability please contact us on 1300 553 542 or by email at enquiries@cleanenergyregulator.gov.au.