Ahead of the second reading of the Sunshine Bill on Friday 17 January, renewable energy firms were spotlighting the ‘open goal’ opportunity for solar that awaits in commercial car parks across the UK, and urging the government to take it up.
If legislation were to mandate solar car ports – canopies with solar PV panels that cover car parking spaces – it would unlock significant energy production in land already used for car parking, said Damian Baker, Managing Director of renewable energy firm RenEnergy
Recent research commissioned by his firm appears to show that there are over 546,000 suitable spaces capable of producing over 1,263 GWh of energy a year.
In the government’s Clean Power 2030 action plan, it pledged to assess the potential to drive the construction of solar canopies on outdoor carparks (over a certain size) through a call for evidence.
The installation of solar panels on car parks is already required in a number of European countries, including Slovenia and France, for all those with more than 80 spaces.
Baker attempted to make the case for similar measures, to bolster UK energy security.
“The Sunshine Bill is a welcome step in the right direction for solar energy production in this country.”
There is, he suggested, “an open goal in solar energy production in the UK”. If the government follows a similar course to France and Slovenia, and mandates the installation of solar car ports in new car parks and car parks over 40 spaces, “we could see significant renewable production on land that is already used for car parking.”
Quite apart from meeting the immediate energy requirements of businesses connected to these facilities,
the energy usage relieved from the grid – and contributed to the grid – “would be vast.”
