News
26/09/14
Indian I-REC use high but focused on global tech firms
Singapore, 14 September (Argus) — India has one of the world's highest
redemption rates of international renewable energy certificates (I-RECs), but
further growth could be achieved if demand can diversify beyond technology
multinationals to supply chain firms and local companies, participants heard at
the India I-Track Day 2026 conference on 11 September. About 30pc of total
Indian I-REC demand has come from three multinational companies, said Neda
Arifi, business development director at Xpansiv, which manages the global I-REC
registry. More broadly, multinationals are linked to 77pc of I-REC demand in the
country. By sector, software and IT services firms account for 18.3pc of I-RECs
used in India, in contrast to the global trend where primarily sectors such as
mining and oil and gas drive demand. Distributors followed at 9.9pc, and
automobile components firms at 5.2pc. "There is high concentration in demand:
demand is concentrated in one sector, software services, and demand is
concentrated with a few multinational groups mainly in the technology sector,"
Arifi said. Meanwhile, 4.5pc of demand in India has been for Scope 3 emissions
reductions, an "early signal" that the supply chain is joining the I-REC market,
Arifi said. Use of I-RECs by supply chain and local firms would represent a
"huge opportunity for the India market to grow" because the country's economy is
based on export and manufacturing, she said. "[The] total addressable market is
moving, not just from the brands that you are currently focused on, but a much
larger component — the value chain," said Roble Velasco-Rosenheim, director of
partnerships and Asia Pacific at the I-Track Foundation, which implements the
I-REC scheme. "For the upstream and downstream components, we're seeing upwards
of 10 times the load [of the brands themselves]," Velasco-Rosenheim said. India
was approved for issuing I-RECs in 2016, as one of the early-movers of the
scheme. It remains one of the largest markets, currently second by registered
generating capacity globally. High redemptions, falling prices India's I-REC
redemption rates are one of the highest in the world, Arifi said, recently at
around 89pc redeemed for 2024 vintage certificates and 85pc for 2025 vintage
certificates. But Indian I-REC prices have been falling. Argus assessed
current-year Indian solar and wind I-RECs at an average of $0.50/MWh in August,
down from $0.69/MWh in January, and $0.89/MWh in January 2025. "Sellers should
think twice before selling their [certificates] at a cheaper rate, since the
demand growth is present and the market is not very oversupplied," environmental
commodities firm EKI Energy Services' chairman and managing director, Manish
Dabkara, said. Independent power provider coalitions could also help to raise
prices on the selling side of I-RECs, Dabkara said. The low cost of I-RECs could
spur companies to engage more in corporate sustainability in a "cost-conscious"
country such as India, renewables developer Blueleaf Energy's head of
investments in India, Daanish Varma, said. Renewables developers are not
concerned about I-REC pricing because it is a small part of the revenue stack
for solar plants, Varma said. But Varma said it is "disappointing" that wind
I-RECs in India command similar prices to solar I-RECs, given the former is
harder to build. He also called for granular intraday I-RECs, so that battery
storage players could buy lower-cost daytime solar I-RECs and sell evening
peak-period clean discharge certificates at a premium to boost project revenue.
Xpansiv expects 18.7TWh of I-RECs to be redeemed in India this year, and
24-25TWh in 2027, up from 14.2TWh in 2025. By Liang Lei Send comments and
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