BRE National Solar Centre Publishes Good Practice Guide for Solar Car Parks

A new guide released today at a conference in London shows how solar car ports could significantly improve the car-parking experience, whilst also generating clean electricity.  The guide details that there are over 17,000 car parks in the UK, potentially representing a substantial growth area for the sector.

This BRE National Solar Centre publication on car ports shows purchasers and developers how to select the best sites, how to tap into the various revenue streams and how to develop a business case.   The various design concepts and considerations are set out in detail, and the guide is accompanied by a financial model, downloadable from the BRE website.

The guide will be launched at Ecobuild, at 2:00 pm today and there will be talks on solar carports in the conference center at 4:30 pm.

Jonny Williams, Director – BRE National Solar Centre said “2016 is the year when UK solar will start to go subsidy-free.  There is tremendous potential for deployment on car parks which are effectively brownfield sites. Technical advances and falling costs help to make large scale solar car parking a viable proposition, and can add to the amenity of the car parks through LED lighting, covered access and electric vehicle charging.  This guide will show car park owners exactly how to go about maximizing the economic and environmental performance of their assets.”

Designed to be accessible for the solar and construction industries, along with the car parking sector; installation costs are expressed in both £/Wp and £/m2  and revenue streams in terms of income per car parking bay per year.

Nina Skorupska, Chief Executive of the Renewable Energy Association said “Transforming a car park by incorporating solar delivers on so many fronts; The panels create shade, carpark users are protected from the rain, the advertising potential is increased, there is the obvious synergy with electric vehicle charging and it allows the car park owner to make a great environmental statement.”