The government has launched a call forevidence to understand the potential benefits of solar car parks acrossEngland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The likely result of this will be a mandatethat car parks have a solar PV installation, as has been the case in France forsome time.
Mandating solar on car parks has multiplebenefits, which the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero is keen toemphasise. It says that a mandate would be a “better deal for motorists andbusinesses”.
The initiative would increase the UK’s solargeneration capacity in line with targets for Clean Power 2030 (CP30), as wellas offering electricity cost savings to the car park owner.
A solar carport often incorporates EV charginginfrastructure, providing additional revenue and meaning only one gridconnection agreement is needed.
Future of roads minister Lilian Greenwoodexplained: “We’re committed to ensuring electric car drivers are alwaysclose to a charger and can save money when making the switch.
“Today is another positive example of howwe’re harnessing the net zero transition to give drivers more choice and helpthem get around with greater peace of mind.”
DESNZ cites estimates that supermarkets,retail parks and offices could save up to £28,000 annually by installing solarcarports (this figure calculated for an 80-space car park—the size that Francemandates must be covered by solar PV) if all of the electricity generated bythe solar array was used onsite. The call for evidence seeks additionalevidence of the benefits of such an initiative.
In France, the scheme has been estimated toenable the installation of 11GW of additional solar capacity.
Options like selling energy back to the gridand long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) are areas that the departmentindicates could be relevant benefits.
The benefits of solar car parks was exploredin the last edition of Current±’s EV Infrastructure Report, inan article titled ‘The untapped potential of Solar and Storage EV charging’.
In 2019, Bentley Motors installed a solar car park at its headquarters inCrewe. In both the article mentioned above andDESNZ’s call for evidence, the project is cited for its successfuldemonstration of the value of solar car parks.
Thesite’s 10,000 solar panels have a capacity of 2.7MW and cover an area of16,426m². Along with other installed solar arrays and 6.6 MW of battery energystorage, the car park enables all of Bentley’s manufacturing operations to bepowered by solar or certified green energy.