How long can an Indian solar or wind plant keep issuing Renewable Energy Certificates, and how do the 25 and 15 year periods fit?
The 2022 certificate rules of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) make a plant's registration valid for 25 years, and it is eligible for certificates for the validity period of its registration. Plants registered under the 2010 rules are deemed registered, with 25 years from the date of deemed registration. The 15 year multiplier period sits inside this.
The two clocks in the Regulations
- Registration: Regulation 8(2) says registration granted under the 2022 Regulations is valid for twenty five years from the date of registration.
- Plants registered under the 2010 Regulations are deemed registered under the 2022 ones, and the proviso says that deemed registration is valid for twenty five years from the date of deemed registration. The proviso does not define that date, so check it with the Central Agency.
- Issuance: Regulation 10(6) says registered entities are eligible for certificates for the validity period of their registration. Regulation 10(2) still requires a renewable generating station to apply within six months from the corresponding generation.
- Multiplier: where one applies, it lasts fifteen years from commissioning under Regulation 12(4), then one certificate per megawatt hour for the rest of registration. The multiplier page has the detail.
What this means when you buy
A plant past year 15 can still issue certificates, one per megawatt hour. Age alone does not make its certificates invalid under these Regulations.
A buyer's own rules can be stricter than the Regulations. Some buyers and programmes limit the age of plants they accept, so check the buyer's rule separately; the power purchase agreement page covers one common test.
For Scope 2, count the megawatt hours the certificates represent, not the number of certificates.
A hydro plant making 100 megawatt hours (MWh)
- Assumed: registered on the day it was commissioned, after the Regulations took effect, so a multiplier of 1.5 applies for hydro
- Year 10: 100 MWh x 1.5 = 150 certificates. Your claim: 100 MWh
- Year 20 (after the 15 years): 100 MWh x 1 = 100 certificates. Your claim: 100 MWh
- Registered in year 0: issuance can run until year 25 under Regulation 8(2), which counts from registration. Regulation 12(4) counts the 15 years from commissioning.
The figures are an example. The multiplier table was set in the Regulations for three years or such other period as the Commission decides, so check the current table.
What Senseible does here
Senseible keeps electricity bills and renewable purchase records side by side, so location-based and market-based Scope 2 figures can be reported from the same data. Certificate retirement proof stays with the buyer.
- REC multiplier by technology
- How soon after generation must a generator apply?
- What to put in a power purchase agreement for a carbon claim
- I-REC or India REC?
- Emissions calculators
Last reviewed 2026-11-05. The Regulations of 9 May 2022 are the text read here and may have been amended. Check the current multiplier table and registry procedure.