The solar panel serial number ledger stores all eligible solar panel serial numbers supplied to the Australian market.
The ledger complements the Solar Panel Validation (SPV) Initiative. SPV gives installers onsite confirmation of a solar panel's eligibility. It provides secondary verification when creating small-scale technology certificates (STCs) for solar panels that don't use SPV.
To be eligible for STCs, responsible suppliers of Clean Energy Council (CEC) approved solar panels must provide us with serial numbers.
A responsible supplier is either an Australian-based:
- manufacturer
- nominated importer for an overseas manufacturer.
What happens if you don’t provide serial numbers
If you don’t provide the serial numbers, it may result in:
- delayed processing of STC claims
- STC claims being rejected
- the module being declared ineligible.
If a solar panel is declared ineligible, it can't receive STCs. This may impact your Australian sales.
Before you upload serial numbers
- Have an Online Services and REC Registry account
- Make sure your REC Registry account is either a supplier account or a verification service provider account
- Be the agency’s registered contact person
Upload serial numbers
There are 2 ways to upload serial numbers to the ledger.
- Log in to the REC Registry
- Click 'small units'
- Click 'panel serial numbers'
- Click 'upload panel serial numbers'
- Make your declaration and upload your CSV file
When preparing your data, make sure you create a CSV file and use the column headings:
- Supplier name
- Licensee/certificate holder
- Model number
- Serial number.
Example file set up
| Supplier name | Licensee/certificate holder | Model number | Serial number |
|---|---|---|---|
The supplier’s legal entity name, as registered. Also referred to as importer or responsible supplier. | As registered with the CEC. | The model imported by your business as the authorised supplier and as registered. | The serial number for the model imported by supplier and as registered. |
info
Tips to avoid errors
- Upload data using a CSV file
- Include no more than 5,000 rows
- Use the correct column headings
- Remove any spaces before or after the column headings and serial numbers
- Upload data into REC Registry outside of business hours to avoid system issues
To upload serial numbers using an API, your declaration must be current and updated every 3 months.
Check your declaration
- Log in to the REC Registry
- Click ‘small units’
- Click ‘panel serial numbers’
- View your declaration status on the right
- Click ‘declaration for API users’ and follow the prompts to make a declaration
Register for an API key and upload data
- Log in to Online Services
- Click 'other systems'
- Select 'Developer Portal'
- Click ‘login’ and follow the prompts
- Click the 'products' tab
- Select 'serial number ledger – v1'
- Enter your new product subscription name
- Select the checkbox for ‘I agree to the Terms of Use’
- Click 'subscribe'
- Click 'show' to get your primary API key
- Click the 'APIs' tab
- Select 'serial number ledger – v1'
- Copy the request URL and use it within your API application
- Update the ‘headers’ under ‘request headers’
- Use the ‘example’ JSON text
- Check whether it is ‘successful’ or ’unsuccessful’
Mark serial numbers as ineligible or invalid
If you’ve provided incorrect serial number data (including ineligible panels) to the ledger, you need to fix this in the REC Registry.
Mark serial numbers as invalid
- Log in to the REC Registry
- Click ‘small units’
- Click ‘panel serial numbers’
- Search and select the serial number data
- Click ‘mark as invalid’
- Select the reason and ‘mark as invalid’
Once completed, you can then upload the correct data.