Car parks considered for UK solar power drive

A call for evidence (39-page / 521KB PDF) relating to proposals to mandate solar canopy installation in car parks in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has been issued, with a deadline for responses by 18 June.

The idea is at an early stage.

Acknowledging the different ownership and operator models for car parks and the different types of car parks, the government is seeking evidence from car park owners and operators as well as other stakeholders such as energy providers and local authorities, on a series of fundamental issues relevant to the proposals and their potential implementation. This includes around the cost of installation, which it said might include “structural supports capable of bearing the additional load of solar canopies, as well as electrical infrastructure to handle energy generation and potential bidirectional energy flow”.

It is further seeking input on who, ultimately, would cover those costs. Modelling on an 80-space car park indicates a payback period of between five and six and a half years, based on revenue from selling energy back to the grid or on self-consumption, but these models do not take account of possible additional grid connection costs.

The government said there are several benefits that could be derived from introducing a ‘solar canopy’ mandate – including ensuring that land is used more productively to support broader government aims around economic growth, decarbonisation and energy security. The increased capital value of car parks with solar canopies is a further potential benefit.

“By increasing deployment of solar canopies on car parks, these spaces could be converted into solar energy hubs, thus improving the productivity of the land,” the government said. “For example, one of the potential benefits of solar canopies is that their installation may lead to car park owners installing EV chargepoints. Increasing renewable generation reduces greenhouse gas emissions, supports the government’s decarbonisation commitments, and may help to address energy security challenges.”

“By being situated close to existing centres of electricity demand, car parks have the potential to reduce the external electricity demand (and bills) of those who host them. Solar canopies offer a dual use of the land used for car parks and can provide additional revenue through the sale of any electricity not used on-site. It’s therefore possible that under-deployment of solar canopies on car parks has resulted in under-utilisation of the land,” it said.

The government acknowledged that there are a range of potential barriers to the implementation of its proposals. It cited spatial constraints, skills shortages, the need to upgrade energy distribution networks, and car park ownership and operating structures as examples in this regard.

Exemptions to any new solar canopy requirement for car parks are being considered by the government. It said it could restrict such a requirement to new car parks only; and place multi-storey car parks or residential car parks, as well as car parks below a certain size, outside the scope of any new obligation. Site-specific exemptions are also under consideration for car parks in sensitive areas, with relevant structural limitations, at the end of their life span or where there is inadequate grid infrastructure.

France has already legislated to mandate solar canopies in outdoor car parks over a certain size. The obligations are to be introduced in stages, with the largest in-scope car parks required to meet coverage requirements by July next year. The law applies to both new and existing car parks, including those under private ownership, with exemptions applying – including on grounds of economic viability.

Also included in the UK government’s consultation paper are separate proposals to change planning rules in England, to further reduce barriers to the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. These proposals include an expansion of the current ‘permitted development’ framework – a sub-set of the planning regime that essentially enables certain qualifying development to take place without the need for plans to be subject to a full planning permission process – to allow larger structural EV charging infrastructure elements to be installed via permitted development rights. The government said it plans to legislate in relation to these changes “shortly”.

Other questions the government has posed suggest further changes to the planning regime could follow, to support the growth of the EV charging network across England.

The Labour government has promised to make Britain a clean energy superpower. Its pre-election commitments include a pledge to triple solar power generation by 2030 – solar generation capacity in the country was estimated to have reached 15.9GW by the time of the general election in 2024. Since coming to power, the government has acted to grant development consent on a number of major solar farm projects in pursuit of its objective.

Real estate expert Siobhan Cross of Pinsent Masons said: “As well as to pure car park owners and operators, this will be relevant to businesses in a number of sectors, such as shopping and leisure centres of all kinds, and hotels. It will also be relevant to airports and other transport hubs. The proposals would involve upfront capital expenditure by those property owners and operators caught by any eventual mandatory requirement.”  

“There are, however, a number of ways that expenditure could be covered by arrangements with third party energy businesses, such as specialist EV chargepoint operators, which could contract with property owners to bear the upfront cost of solar canopies together with chargepoints in return for the expected value of the energy generated by the canopies,” she said. “This energy would then be re-sold by the chargepoint operator to EV consumers over the term of a lease granted by the property owner to the operator. Property owners will therefore want to carefully consider whether such arrangements might be beneficial in the context of their specific sites.”