My buildings roof is covered in solar panels that generate at least 20% of the building's annual energy. However these solar panels are owned by a third party and the REC's are sold to help finance the panels (through a PPA). Do I have to purchase REC's to offset my buildings total energy use regardless of the energy generated by the solar panels or is there a way to get a discount since a large portion of the energy is generated on site?
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Ben Stanley
Senior Sustainability ManagerWSP - Built Ecology
LEEDuser Expert
250 thumbs up
December 1, 2015 - 11:43 am
Hi Edmee,
Yes, the renewable energy attributes must be retained and owned by the building owner in order to apply that energy generation to the credit. The LEED v4 reference guide has some additional guidance for third party systems that could be useful for you.
Erin Holdenried
Sustainable Design DirectorBell Architects
44 thumbs up
December 23, 2015 - 12:35 pm
LEED NC 2009 allows projects to purchase RECs equivalent to the amount generated by the third-party owned onsite renewables as a path to counting the onsite renewables for LEED credit. Is this not also allowed for LEED EBOM?