The I-REC Standard Foundation is pleased to have the Hirdaramani Group as the first organisation in Sri Lanka to receive I-RECs for its electricity usage. The Issuances of I-RECs to the Hirdaramani Group were carried out by The Carbon Consulting Company together with the central issuer, GCC, facilitating the issuance. This issuance comes after Hirdaramani Group’s movement towards more clear and transparent carbon accounting practices.
Hirdaramani Group is a global enterprise committed to sustainability ranging from direct investments into wind and hydro-power plants to implementing on-site renewable energy generation projects at their manufacturing facilities (including solar power and biomass). And was the first company in Asia to be certified as carbon neutral in 2012.
Onsite Solar RECs
I-REC Standard adherent tracking systems have registered the rooftop solar power produced from the on-site PV plants across the manufacturing facilities to make sure that their onsite production is verified by an independent entity. In adherence with the I-REC Standard rules and regulations, I-RECs were able to be issued against the electricity generation. This offers support by providing clear accounting information as to the generation of their solar devices and clarifying the method of reporting their electricity usage against international standards. The manufacturing facilities see this as best practice and a way in which they can hold themselves accountable for their sustainability and renewable procurement goals.
By procuring I-RECs, the Hirdaramani Group will have insight into exactly how much power is being generated against their consumption. With this they can clearly document, adherent to major consumer claim standards (such as CDP/RE100), where their electricity originated, and how much renewable electricity they generate and consumed in each period. This supports the organization in determining when and where they were not able to match their consumption with renewables and how they can fill the gap with other onsite or offsite production
According to the Lanka Business Review, the Hirdaramani Group is predicted to experience significant developments towards their goals of curbing electricity-based consumption emissions through the use of I-RECs: “I-RECs will be covering approximately 40% of the electricity demand of the Hirdaramani Group’s Sri Lankan facilities. By using I-RECs, individual factories will be able to quantify their renewable energy usage at a facility level, with expected ranges between 40% and 100% depending on the facility. Overall, the company is projecting that they will be able to achieve approximately 25% decrease in its Scope 1 and 2 related carbon footprint in 2021, primarily as a result of the reduction in GHG emissions via the implementation of the I-REC programme.”
Future growth and developments
The growth and development of the I-REC market in Sri Lanka has been firmly established with the first issuance of I-RECs to the Hirdaramani Group. It is the hope of the I-REC Standard Foundation that more organisations such as Hirdaramani will strive towards renewable energy sources and to transparent and reliable implementation of attribute tracking systems.
Nikhil Hirdaramani, Director of the Hirdaramani Group: “At Hirdaramani we are dedicated to constantly holding ourselves accountable for meeting our commitments, and for the validation of our sustainability goals. The decision to invest in the I-REC Standard and framework stems from this dedication, allowing us to not only quantify our achievements, but also more importantly, to collect reliable data which will help us to keep moving forward towards our energy and GHG reduction goals.”