The renewable energy certificates market shrank to 9.2 lakh RECs in 2020-21 while 60.58 lakh RECs piled up till March-end due to a halt in trading, which also impacted the ability of distribution companies to meet their renewable purchase obligation (RPO). According to industry data, an inventory of 60.58 lakh RECs piled up till March 31, 2021, which includes 7.71 lakh solar and 52.88 lakh non-solar green certificates. The data also showed that trading of just 9.2 lakh RECs was done in 2020-21 as the trading was suspended since July last year. REC trading was recorded at 89.27 lakh in 2019-20 and 126.08 lakh in 2018-19. The REC or green certificate trades were suspended in July 2020 after the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) decided to postpone the trading by four weeks while hearing three separate petitions related to an issue of fixing floor and forbearance prices of RECs by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).