# If a developer owns the rooftop solar on my factory under a RESCO or OPEX model, can I claim the solar in my Scope 2?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/resco-opex-solar-who-claims-scope-2

Yes, if your PPA gives you the plant's renewable attributes and nobody else sells them. Solar you buy from a developer-owned rooftop plant is purchased electricity, so it sits in your Scope 2. Claim it at zero in market-based Scope 2 only when the contract conveys the attributes and no RECs or carbon credits are sold from those units.

## Why a RESCO plant is Scope 2, not Scope 1

Under a RESCO or OPEX model the developer builds, owns and maintains the plant on your roof and sells you the units at a fixed tariff per kWh. You pay for electricity, not for a machine. The GHG Protocol treats electricity bought from a generator owned by someone else as purchased electricity, so it belongs in your Scope 2 even though the panels sit on your building.

Under a CAPEX model you own the plant, its output is your own generation with no fuel burnt, and there is no Scope 2 on those units. A lease can go either way: if you operate the plant and carry its risks, treat it as owned; if the lessor runs it and bills per unit, treat it as RESCO.

## What makes the zero claim valid

If the contract is silent on attributes, ask for a side letter before you claim. A silent contract leaves the claim open to challenge.

- The PPA states that the environmental attributes of the solar units you consume are transferred to you, or retained for you, and are not sold to anyone else.
- The developer does not register the plant for RECs or carbon credits, or, if it does, the units issued are not the units you claim.
- You have monthly generation data from the plant's meter, so the claimed kWh match what was actually delivered to you in the reporting year.

## When you cannot claim the solar

If the developer sells RECs or carbon credits from the plant, the buyer of those instruments owns the renewable claim, not you. Report your solar units in market-based Scope 2 at 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, the national grid average, and say in a note that you used it because no residual mix factor is published for India. Claiming zero as well would count the same clean power twice.

## How to report it

1. Grid imports from the discom bill, at 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, in both location-based and market-based Scope 2.
2. Solar units bought from the developer, on a separate line with the PPA and generation data as evidence.
3. In market-based Scope 2, those solar units at zero when the attribute tests pass, or at the grid average when they do not.
4. A note naming the ownership model, the PPA date and who holds the attributes.

## Worked example: a factory with a RESCO rooftop plant

- Annual use: 6,00,000 kWh, of which 1,80,000 kWh from the RESCO plant and 4,20,000 kWh imported from the grid
- Attributes conveyed to you: market-based Scope 2 = 4,20,000 x 0.710 = 2,98,200 kg CO2, about 298.2 t
- Developer sells RECs from the plant: 6,00,000 x 0.710 = 4,26,000 kg CO2, about 426 t
- Difference: 1,80,000 x 0.710 = 1,27,800 kg CO2, about 127.8 t, decided by one clause in the PPA

Illustrative figures. Use the plant's metered generation and your discom import units.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads the grid import units from your discom bill and applies 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh for location-based Scope 2. Market-based Scope 2 needs instrument data, so you add the solar units bought under the PPA with the contract as evidence; Senseible does not read the developer's meter or judge the PPA clause.

- [Rooftop solar and net metering in Scope 2](https://senseible.earth/answers/rooftop-solar-net-metering-scope-2)
- [PPA clauses for a renewable power claim](https://senseible.earth/answers/what-to-put-in-ppa-for-carbon-claim)
- [Market vs location-based Scope 2](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/scope-2-market-based-vs-location-based-msme-guide)

Sources: [GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance (2015), Chapters 6 and 7](https://ghgprotocol.org/scope-2-guidance), [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Chapter 4 Setting Operational Boundaries](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-17. The GHG Protocol is revising its Scope 2 Guidance; recheck the market-based rules for on-site PPAs when the revision is final.